


Between Me and You

by Pixiigh



Series: Best Laid Plans [2]
Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: A little magic here, A little magic there, Domestic Fluff, Dorks in Love, Established Relationship, F/M, Non-Graphic Sexual Content, Sebastian has baby rabies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-04-24 10:38:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 25,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14353761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixiigh/pseuds/Pixiigh
Summary: Quinn has one more thing to do before she can really get on with her life. Well... maybe it's a few things.





	1. Chapter 1

Perhaps it was the beginning of her second spring on the farm that had put Quinn in such a good mood, or perhaps it was the beginnings of an excellent harvest, with rows of cauliflower, potatoes and rhubarb as far as the eye could see.

Or perhaps it was the memory, clouded by a drunken haze, of Sebastian staring at her after her confession on the night of the Winter Star, and then saying it back. And perhaps, along with that, it was all the times he had repeated it to her after, his voice alive with happiness.

She watered her new crops with a spring in her step.

Things were going well in Pelican Town. She had met Sam’s dad as he finally came home from deployment, and she had never seen Sam happier. She was overjoyed for her friend. She had been worried about Harvey, but he seemed to get over his proposal rejection quite quickly and allowed Quinn to sign him up for online dating. She coached him and was his wingwoman, and she was happy that he was now seeing a chemist from the city named Rebecca.

To the surprise of almost everyone in the Valley (except perhaps Quinn), Maru and Penny had excitedly announced their engagement. There were doubts about where they would live, before Gunther offered the extra suite above the museum (Quinn hadn’t even known it was there – evidently the buildings in Pelican Town were very utilitarian).

Elliot had finished his novel, Leah’s art show in the Town Square on the first day of spring was a massive success, and Abigail had been excitedly taking lessons from Marlon at the Adventurer’s Guild on how to properly swing a sword.

Yes, everything was going splendidly for the residents of Pelican Town, except…

Quinn still saw Shane trudge to work at JojaMart, each day wearing on him more than the last. Pierre had secretly confided in her about the megacorporation cutting into his profits, as the store served surrounding communities, and people came to the Valley strictly for Joja.

Quinn also noticed that people who shopped there were beginning to look a little sickly. Jodi had written it off as allergies, but Quinn had seen Sam’s allergies before. This was something else. Even Pam had cut down on drinking so much because she found herself with more stomach aches than she could handle.

Curiosity got the better of her one day. She donned a large sunhat, sunglasses, and clothes she wouldn’t be caught dead doing farm work in, and made her way to JojaMart.

Her face was blasted with the sickeningly familiar JojaAir when she entered. She had to stop herself from gagging. As she looked around the aisles, that ugly blue staring back at her, she was accosted by a gross looking little man in a red bow tie.

“Hello, ma’am!” he said. His voice sounded cheerful enough, but Quinn heard how sinister it really was. “Welcome to JojaMart. My name is Morris, and I am the customer satisfaction manager, please let me know if you have any questions! I’d also love to let you know about our one time membership fee being slashed to a mere 5,000 gold, today only!”

She said nothing, but turned up her nose and walked away from him. Unless Joja had recently changed its policy, he had deviated from the script that satisfaction managers were supposed to follow. She knew because she was the one who had written the damn thing.

Why was the membership fee so low? Joja typically had it sitting around 8,000 gold, and touted all the member perks to trick so many people into purchasing it. Membership sales typically only slashed it to 7,000 gold, but never 5,000. That was unheard of.

She browsed the aisles and pulled things out at random. Joja didn’t carry any brand name items other than the Joja brand, due to having the biggest factory presence and not needing any other name brands. It was a sea of that dreadful blue and ugly logo. She pulled out a can of ravioli.

She pulled her sunglasses down her nose a little to read the ingredients list. She had forgotten how purposefully small the font was. The ravioli she was holding contained more high-fructose corn syrup than a person should realistically consume in a month, and she had never seen so much MSG in a product before. Disgusted, she replaced the can on the shelf.

Several other things she pulled off their shelves gave the exact same result. She was completely repulsed at what she was reading. No wonder everyone was getting so sick.

“Hello, ma’am, how may I help you today?”

Sam was standing in front of her with his Joja uniform on, and he had pulled one earphone out to talk to her. She couldn’t help but giggle.

“Sam, it’s me,” she said. “I’m undercover.”

Sam leaned in and dropped his voice. “Undercover? Like… you started working for corporate again?”

“No, fuck no.” Quinn shook her head. “I’m doing an… independent investigation, if you will. People have been getting sick and I’m trying to figure out why. Reading these ingredients though… it’s not like it’s a secret at this point.”

“I hadn’t pegged you as the investigative type,” Sam said with a wrinkle of his nose.

“I’m not,” Quinn replied with a shrug. “I just… maybe I have a hero complex or something, but I would do anything to shut this place down. I can’t stand what they’re doing to Pierre.”

“Just remember that if it closes down, I’ll have no damn job,” he hissed, looking shiftily around to make sure Morris wasn’t watching.

“Is that what you’re worried about? Come work on the farm, you asshole. There, now you don’t have to worry. Will you help me?”

Sam considered it a moment, and then sighed. “I guess so. You’re lucky I like you so much, you know. I wouldn’t go up against an evil megacorporation for just anyone.”

* * *

 

Quinn was sitting at the Saloon with Mayor Lewis and Pierre when the plan began to take shape.

“All I’m saying is that the town needs the money, Pierre, and Morris is offering me a decent chunk of change to take over the community centre to turn into a warehouse.”

Quinn sipped her wine. “Lewis, if you’re worried about money, come talk to me. Frankly, I would _love_ to use the money I brought from working at Joja to bring them the fuck down.”

“Quinn, my dear, I could never ask that of you.” Lewis drank from his mug and beer foam clung to his moustache. “Besides, that community centre has just been sitting there for years. It’s run down and decrepit. Might as well sell it.”

“Sell it to Quinn,” Pierre said desperately, before turning to Quinn. “I apologize for not consulting you before I offered you up like that, but if Joja gets that space, I’m done for. They would be able to expand their operations and soon no one would be coming in to my shop…”

Quinn patted his hand as he trailed off. “I will always come to your shop. But Pierre is right. We can’t let Joja just take over Pelican Town. Let me fix the place up or something, then we can use it again.”

Both she and Pierre stared at the Mayor so intensely, he started to sweat.

“Oh, alright. Just know, though, that I’ll still be considering Joja’s offer.”

He downed the rest of his beer and bade them goodnight. Pierre turned to Quinn.

“I can’t tell you how thankful I am that you’re working to help me out,” he said. “I knew you were a good egg as soon as I met you. But… have you seen the old community centre? It’s a damn mess. Although… I do suppose we could ask the Junimos for help…”

Quinn blinked. “The what?”

“Oh, the forest spirits. I don’t speak their language, though, so I wouldn’t know what to say to them to ask for help.”

He wasn’t making any sense. He hadn’t had anything to drink, so perhaps it was Quinn’s wine that was making this happen? As she examined her glass, he spoke again.

“Ah, I have someone you could speak to. Have you ever seen the tower in the forest? Well, a man lives there. I won’t get into how I know him, but he is a wizard and he can help you. You should go talk to him and see what he can do for you.”

Quinn’s mouth had fallen open. “A… a wizard? You realize how ridiculous you sound, right?”

“Oh, of course,” he chuckled. “You’d be surprised at how many surprises this valley holds. And, really Quinn, you fight sentient slime in the mines, a wizard and some forest spirits shouldn’t be that weird to you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> If you happened to follow my last work in the series, I'm happy to say that my dad found my school laptop :) It's garbage and it's hard to scroll on it but it works and it's much better than typing this on my phone!


	2. Chapter 2

Quinn felt ridiculous walking in the forest so late at night in search of a wizard. Or at least, what Pierre claimed to be a wizard.

She knew that Pierre was on to something when he pointed out that she frequently fought monsters in the mine. There was no reason that she shouldn’t believe that Rasmodius wasn’t a wizard.

She had no idea what the etiquette for entering a wizard’s house was. She knocked anyway, and the door creaked open. She hesitantly entered.

“Quinn.” A booming voice came from the darkness, and Quinn’s eyes wandered to a glowing green fog. “I have been waiting for you. I must admit, I expected you to come much earlier.”

“Sorry,” she said, her voice barely more than a squeak. “If I had known that I was being rude, I would have come sooner.”

A hand reached through the fog to wave off her concerns. “Nonsense. You came at the exact right time. Come closer.”

It was realistically the last thing she wanted to do, but she stepped toward the voice anyway. The hands reached through the fog once more and grabbed her.

She was pulled in front of a purple haired man, who appeared to be about middle age. She gasped at his resemblance to Abigail, unable to contain herself.

“Does she know about you?” she asked in wonder, somehow knowing that the man would know exactly who “she” was. He shook his head sadly.

“Pierre and I have an arrangement. Besides, she is much too old for such surprises. It’s better she does not know.”

Quinn knew she was being rude, but she couldn’t stop staring at him in complete shock.

“She’s my best friend, you know,” she said. “Well, one of them.”

“And I am glad,” said the wizard. “But we do not have time for this meaningless chatter, Miss Briar. You have been sent to me with a task.

She shook her head to clear the mist from it. Whatever was in the cauldron producing the green fog was starting to get to her.

“Yes, of course. I don’t really know how much you can help me, but I _need_ to get rid of Joja. I’m not saying this to be dramatic, but I think that with all the cancer causing ingredients in their food, getting rid of them would literally save lives. Also, I’m sure you see what they’ve done to Pierre’s business.”

The wizard wandered away from her with his hands clasped together behind his back.

“I see. That’s a very noble cause, you know. It’s not going to be easy.”

She sighed. “I know. They’re a giant megacorporation and they won’t go quietly. I was thinking maybe just telling everyone how bad it is for them. I’m not really sure what you have to do with it.”

He turned to her, his eyes burning.

“I know you worked for them, but there’s so much you don’t know about them. Joja is here because of a magical influence.”

That wasn’t at all what Quinn had expected to hear. “What do you mean by magic influence?”

“The man working the customer service desk has placed a spell on Stardew Valley,” the wizard replied darkly. “Morris Vermeer is not what you think he is. He studied magic at the same time as I, but he went down a different path. Most people are able to resist the influence, but some are not. The people in the surrounding communities who come to Pelican Town for Joja are responsible for closing down their own general stores. We are not the only victims.”

A chill ran down her spine as he spoke. She knew Joja would go to great lengths to make a dollar, but never in a million years would have guessed that magic had anything to do with it.

“So what do we do?” she asked, despite the fact that it sounded like there wasn’t anything that could be done.

“Morris must be stopped. His magic must be intercepted. He is the only one who can end the spell he has on the area, as it is magic that I am inexperienced in.”

“Wait, so you mean I need to like… kill Morris?” Quinn was horrified. The wizard shook his head.

“You do not need to kill him. Just… upset the balance of Joja a little bit to distract him and I will take care of the rest.”

He began to walk away, but Quinn suddenly remembered the conversation she had had with Pierre.

“Wait!” she called. “What about the… forest spirits? To help clean up the community centre?”

The wizard turned around and scowled. “I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that, but I suppose you will need assistance. Give me a moment.”

There was a flash of smoke and he disappeared. Quinn cried out in shock, but before the sound was finished leaving her throat, he was back with an apple in his hand.

An apple that was jumping and making squealing noises.

_Miss Quinn, Miss Quinn!_

Quinn jumped, unsure of where the little voice was coming. The apple had stopped jumping and Quinn could see beady little eyes in the middle of it staring at her.

…Was the apple talking to her?

_Miss Quinn, we Junimos would be honoured to help you with your quest to save Pelican Town. Please come see us in the community centre!_

She rubbed her eyes, hardly believing the scene going on in front of her. An apple was talking to her, being held by a fucking _wizard_ and discussing how to stop another wizard cursing people to shop at his store.

“Okay.”

* * *

 Sebastian had all but officially moved in to Quinn’s farm house. He had brought along an extra computer to work on, occupied the bottom drawer of her dresser, and her fridge was half full of his food as well.

Still, he couldn’t help but feel like he was imposing on her. She was easily the most adored person in the Valley, as -with the exception of Alex and Haley - she was friends with everyone. Who was he friends with? Sam and Abby? He couldn’t even get along with his half sister and step father, so why would someone as bubbly and bright as Quinn want him?

Somehow, she did, so he counted his blessings every day.

“Has Quinn been acting odd lately?”

He was at the Saloon on Friday night, as usual, with Sam and Abby. Quinn normally tagged along, but tonight she was absent and Sebastian had no idea where she was.

“You mean more odd than normal?” he asked as he picked out his cue stick. “She’s pretty eccentric.”

“Yes, I mean more odd than normal,” Abby snapped. “Don’t be so mean to her when she’s not here. She’s perfectly normal.”

“I’m not being mean, it’s just the truth,” Sebastian replied defensively. “What’s up your ass?”

“She was in the store the other day and she didn’t even say hi to me, she just whispered with my dad.” Abby was pouting. “I thought it was a little out of the ordinary and was curious whether she’s been acting like this with you.”

Sebastian shrugged. “Quinn gets things in her head and acts a little out of character, but otherwise she’s been fine. I wonder what she’s talking to your dad about. That’s a little weird, sure.”

“…Sam, why do you look so guilty?”

Sam’s eyes shifted in their sockets and he was unable to look at either Sebastian or Abigail. Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

“Who looks guilty?” Sam said, his voice coming out in a squeak. “I don’t look guilty. And if we want my opinion, Quinn has been acting totally normal. Nothing out of the ordinary at all. Not that I would know. I wouldn’t know. Nope, not one thing.”

“That wasn’t suspicious at all.” Abby narrowed her eyes. “Come on, Sam, spill. You know what Quinn’s up to, tell us.”

“I don’t know if I’m supposed to say anything but… she asked me for help taking down Joja.”

Sebastian frowned. “Why would she need your help? And why did that make you act so weird?”

Sam leaned in and lowered his voice to a whisper. “I think they have me bugged or something, I can’t be too careful talking about this.”

Abby laughed. “You’re something else. Anyway, that explains a lot. I’m glad someone is finally doing something about that awful store. No offence, Sam, but it needs to go.”

Sebastian, however, was still unsatisfied at Sam’s answer.

“But why does she need your help? Why didn’t she ask me?”

“Because I work there. Also because I’m a criminal mastermind and I’m a powerful ally.”

A powerful smell of pine overwhelmed the three of them moments after Sam finished speaking. Sebastian had to hold his nose.

Quinn entered the games room, evidently the source of the smell. She looked a bit drunk already, her eyes distant and her face flushed.

“Ah, here you are,” she said, not to Sebastian, but to Sam. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I had a thought.”

“Are you okay, Quinn?” Abby asked, stepping forward, her brow knitted together in concern. “You don’t look so great.”

“I don’t?” Quinn sounded disoriented. “Fuck. I told him it was a bad idea. That stupid fucker never listens.”

“Who are you talking about?” Sam asked. “Why do you smell like pine?”

“Rasmodius,” she replied. “And I was… uh… spelunking. In the forest.”

The three friends exchanged identical looks indicating that they didn’t believe a thing Quinn was saying. She suddenly started looking a little green.

“If you’ll excuse me…” With that, she ran to the bathroom. None of them moved until Sebastian cocked his head after her, silently telling Abby to follow her.

“Okay, fine, I’ll go take care of your girlfriend,” she said with a roll of her eyes and followed Quinn. She returned a few moments later.

“She’s… extremely sick.” Abby looked a little sick herself. “It was not good in there.”

Just then, Robin, who was evidently eavesdropping, stuck her head in the games room. Sebastian figured that she had watched Quinn enter the Saloon, speak for all of three seconds, and then run to the bathroom.

His mother had a devilish smile on her lips. “What did you do to that poor girl, Sebby? I was never that sick with you, but I _was_ that sick with Maru…”

Sebastian worked out what she was saying before Sam and Abby did. He threw his arms up.

“She probably just ate a red mushroom. She keeps doing it even though it makes her sick. Mom, you need to stay out of this.”

Robin shrugged and returned to Demetrius. Abby frowned.

“She’s not… pregnant… is she?”

Sebastian scoffed. “Of course not. I don’t even know if she wants kids. Like I said, it was probably just a stupid mushroom as usual.”

Sam and Abby narrowed their eyes at him, but he continued.

“And anyway. Who’s Rasmodius?”

* * *

Sebastian was acting weird.

Sure, Quinn had stumbled into the Saloon only to barf all over the bathroom moments later, but she had good reason. Rasmodius had made her drink some sort of enchanted pine tar, and it was not sitting well in her stomach.

But Sebastian had no excuse. He was constantly trying to get her to go see Harvey and was picking out healthier meals and… looking at her stomach constantly…

“Fuck. He thinks I’m pregnant.”

Quinn’s sudden outburst woke up Trillium, who meowed at her indignantly.

“I’m not,” she called after the cat’s retreating form as she slunk up the stairs. “You’re the only damn baby around here.”

She grumbled a little bit as she plodded to her bedroom where curiosity got the better of her. She faced her mirror side on and smoothed her shirt over her stomach. She stared curiously at the sight for a moment before she shook her head.

“What am I doing?”

Quinn didn’t like kids. Well, she liked Jas and Vincent, but other than that, she didn’t like kids.

Despite this, she couldn’t help but picture herself, perhaps a few pounds heavier, carrying a little baby with black hair and dark eyes…

She shook her head again.

“What is wrong with me?” she asked her reflection. She rubbed the palm of her hand over her face.

She couldn’t fight the vision from coming back. The next one that appeared behind her eyes was of Sebastian sitting on the floor with the baby she had just been holding, surrounded by dinky cars and colourful blocks.

“He’d be a good dad,” she said again to her reflection, her voice barely above a whisper.

“You’d be a terrible mom,” her reflection said back in a mocking tone. “Come on, you really think kids are a good idea?”

The real Quinn frowned, resolving to have a talk with that damn wizard for giving her such hallucinations. “You’re just a reflection, what do you know?”

* * *

 Quinn and the Junimos had been working tirelessly together to restore the community centre. They were a bit needy with supplies, and she didn’t understand what they needed most of them for, but it was coming together.

It was beginning to get harder and harder to keep what she was doing a secret. People would constantly stop her in her travels to the community centre, and she was forced to do her drop offs at night. Unfortunately, there were just as many night owls in Pelican Town as there were people who hung out in the daylight.

“You’re getting sloppy,” Rasmodius said, looking at her with an eyebrow raised. “People are going to notice. The Junimos are very private. They are doing you a favour, you cannot let anyone know they exist.”

“Pierre knows they exist,” she snapped back. He had forced her to drink another enchanted pine drink, and she was getting tired of the stomach aches that always followed it.

“Pierre relies heavily on local legends and lore. He didn’t know what he was saying to you when he said it. It came from a place of desperation when he told you about them.”

“Yeah, well it worked.” She was starting to sweat. Soon she would be magically transported to the community centre to find out what the Junimos needed next.

Rasmodius shrugged. “You cannot always rely on things like that.”

She rolled her eyes, sick of his faux mysterious act. At first, meeting a wizard was the coolest shit in the universe, but he was so pretentious and all knowing that she quickly grew tired of him.

She closed her eyes to bite back the wave of sickness that had come over her suddenly, and when she opened them again, she was in the community centre.

She was not, however, alone.

“I honestly thought Rasmodius would have had the confidence to show up here himself, and not send some tiny crony.”

She looked up and through the haze that always accompanied her trips, she saw Morris.

“They let you leave the customer service desk?” she asked, trying her best to adopt a mocking tone. “I thought you were chained there or something.”

“Of course I’m not, stupid girl,” Morris said haughtily. “I can tell that was a pathetic attempt to shame me, but you must know by now that I control _them.”_

Quinn shook her head. “What the fuck are you talking about? You say you control a giant megacorporation with a board of directors three times the size of this town, but yet you’re working the customer service desk in the middle of nowhere? Morris, be real with me.”

He hissed at her and she swore his eyes turned red, but regained his composure within seconds.

“I don’t expect you to understand how my magic works. I also don’t have time to explain it to you, nor do I think you’d be able to comprehend a word I say.”

“What are you even doing here?” Quinn asked. Her legs felt sturdy enough under her to pull herself up to walk over to him. She was taller than he was.

“Oh, I was just coming in to see the progress that you’ve made. It’s quite impressive, Miss Briar, I will give you that. When the Mayor took me on a tour of this place it was a dump, but it looks much better now. I must thank you for making my work easier for when Joja takes over this space.”

“Joja will _not_ take this space,” Quinn said. She remembered an animal documentary she had watched with Sebastian and puffed out her chest and straightened her legs to make her look bigger than she was. Morris did not look as intimidated as the fox hunting the peacock did in the documentary.

“Says a little farmer, right?” Morris sneered, getting right back in Quinn’s face. “And a wizard who couldn’t even be bothered to help out. What a shame. Trust me, Miss Briar, a Joja expansion is what is best for this town.”

With that, he turned on his heel and in a puff of smoke, was gone. Even though she had seen the same puff of smoke before, she looked around wildly just in case he had only teleported to a different point in the community centre.

“He’s gone,” she said aloud once she was satisfied that he was. “You can come out now.”

A few tiny Junimos peeked out from behind the fish tank.

_Miss Quinn, you mustn’t let him take our home!_

_You mustn’t let him succeed!_

She scooped one up in her hand and looked at it very seriously.

“I promise that nothing will happen to your home. I promise that no matter what, we’ll get rid of him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so fucking bad at writing villains so I apologize if Morris sounds stupid lol. I also had a hard time splitting this up into more than one chapter so I'm just dumping it as one, sorry. I promise it's all relevant.  
> Also, as I was writing this, I realized I never gave Quinn a birthday??? I'm just going to go with it and say that she doesn't like to celebrate it or something. I'll find a way to put it in somehow.


	3. Chapter 3

“So, are you going to be my partner at the Flower Dance next week?”

Quinn looked up from her shitty embroidery project to see Sebastian leaning against the kitchen island, looking nervous for some reason. She shrugged.

“I’ll dance with you for a bit, but the actual Dance is something I do with Shane. Besides, I saw how much trouble Abby had walking home last year because you couldn’t stop stepping on her feet. I want nothing to do with that.”

“With… Shane?” Sebastian asked incredulously. “And I’m a bad dancer because I hate dancing.”

“Shane actually really enjoys it. And unlike you, he can suck up his grumpiness enough to at least pretend to have a good time.”

He rolled his eyes. “Well, Abby isn’t going to want to dance with me again, not after last time.”

“So dance with Sam. He’s just as bad at it as you are. You’ll make a great pair.”

Sebastian stuck his tongue out at her. She looked up and smiled.

“I know it’s not a fun thing for you, Seb, but I promised Shane the other day. I didn’t think you’d mind.”

“I don’t mind, I’m just a little hurt that you’d leave your own boyfriend to fend for himself while you dance with someone else.”

She rolled her eyes and laughed. “Maybe next year, honey.”

She continued working on the monstrosity she was creating. It was supposed to be a little gift for Emily, but she had a feeling that by the time she was done, she’d want to burn it and just give Emily a gift card.

“Have you been feeling better?” he asked her, helping himself to a snack and settling on the couch. “I noticed you haven’t desecrated any bathrooms recently.”

“I’m fine.” Her voice was flat, trying not to let out any emotion. Truthfully, her stomach had just finally adjusted to the disgusting pine tar and wasn’t making her vomit. “I must have caught a bug or something.”

“I thought you were eating red mushrooms again…” Sebastian trailed off thoughtfully as he bit into a field snack.

“I’ve learned my lesson about red mushrooms, thank you very much,” she said indignantly. “A lot of people have been sick lately, I must have caught it from one of them. Probably Sam. That fucker has no manners, breathing his sick air all over me.”

Sebastian seemed convinced and let out a small chuckle at her dig at Sam. Her insides relaxed.

She couldn’t tell him what she was working on. There was no way he’d believe her, she barely believed it herself. She also would never do anything to endanger the tiny jumping apples in the community centre.

She had also recently begun being really worried about Morris and what he knew. The fact that the little creep could so easily accost her at the community centre when she was so close to finishing it sent shivers down her back. She didn’t want to know what else he was capable of.

She forced herself to stop thinking about Morris and looked at Sebastian, who was looking at her.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, concerned. “You don’t look very good.”

“You calling me ugly?” She pretended to be offended. “That’s not a very nice thing to say.”

He frowned and walked over to her. He took her face in the palm of his hand, as if he was going to kiss her, but instead just studied it.

“I mean it,” he said as he turned her cheek. “Quinn, you don’t look healthy. Have you been eating?”

“Of course I’ve been eating,” she lied. “I love to eat.”

While it was true that she did love to eat, she hadn’t been lately. Nothing sat well in her stomach and she found it easier to just be hungry.

“You need to go to the doctor,” he said sternly.

She huffed. “You look like your mother when you boss me around like that.”

“Yeah? I’ll yell at you like her if you don’t make an appointment.”

* * *

 “Hey, Quinn! What can I do for you?”

Quinn leaned up against the counter at the clinic.

“Is Harvey in?” she asked. Maru nodded.

“I’ll let him know you’re here if you just want to take a seat. He’s got an open schedule today.”

As Maru pushed open the door to Harvey’s office, Quinn sat. She wasn’t exactly sure what she was here for, she just knew that she didn’t want to see any more of Robin in her boyfriend than she had already seen. Hopefully, Harvey would tell her it was nothing.

Maru came back and called her in. Harvey looked a little surprised to see her, but smiled anyway.

“Hello, Quinn,” he said warmly. “You’re not due for your checkup for a little while, what brings you in today?”

“Well, Sebastian made me come in, really,” she explained. “But I’ve been… really sick lately. I can’t keep food down.”

Harvey nodded. “Any other symptoms?”

“Well, to be honest, I drank some pine tar and I think that’s what started this whole thing.”

“Quinn… why did you drink pine tar?”

“Harvey, look. We could sit here all day and I could explain to you exactly why I drank some pine tar, but I really don’t think you’d believe me. I don’t even know if I believe it. Point is, I drank some pine tar, and I’m too embarrassed to admit that to Sebastian because he _still_ gets on my case about eating red mushrooms. I don’t feel like adding pine tar to his fodder.”

Harvey chuckled. “Well, let’s just run some tests to make sure that the pine tar hasn’t caused any lasting damage. We’ll get a blood sample, and do an ultrasound.”

“You think I’m pregnant, don’t you?” she asked flatly, narrowing her eyes at him. “I’m not.”

“Well, we can’t rule it out,” Harvey replied breezily. “And if you are, Quinn, you’re going to need to not drink pine tar. Seriously.”

Quinn was still muttering about how she was sure she wasn’t pregnant when Harvey called in Maru and the two of them prepared her for an ultrasound. It didn’t take long, and Maru gently took some blood from Quinn’s arm when the ultrasound was done.

Harvey asked a few more questions, which Quinn answered as honestly as she could while still avoiding the topic of magic. He tapped his pencil on his clipboard thoughtfully.

“When was your last menstrual period?”

“Uh… a while ago.”

“Have you experienced any weight gain?”

“Well… a little, I guess. It looks like I have a food baby a bit even though I haven’t eaten since like… Saturday.”

“How’s your back?”

“It’s fucking _killing me_ , Harvey.”

Harvey tutted a bit more as he thought.

“Nausea from an untreated tree product aside, it sounds to me as though you’re having a false pregnancy.”

Quinn frowned. “A what?”

“A false pregnancy is basically when your body thinks it’s pregnant, even if you are not,” he explained. “You get a lot of the symptoms, but the absence of the fetus. We can clearly see that you aren’t pregnant, Quinn, but the ailments you’re describing sound a lot like pregnancy.”

She wasn’t sure how to react. In the back of her mind, despite her denial, she had honestly been prepared to get the news of a real pregnancy. Instead, her body was fucking her over by putting her through the hell for no reason.

“What can I do?” she asked quietly. “Why is this happening?”

“Well, we aren’t totally sure of the cure, or the reason. Not that that’s any help to you. I’ve read a few different studies, but they’re all inconclusive.”

Quinn puffed her cheeks and exhaled loudly. “So I just… wait it out?”

Harvey nodded. “This is a good time to discuss actual family planning, Quinn. Have you and Sebastian talked about children?”

“I don’t like kids,” Quinn replied, although she didn’t sound very convincing. “We aren’t going to have kids.”

“Have you talked to him about that?” Harvey asked again. She sighed.

“No.”

“Well, you should maybe consider it. I can give you a prescription to alleviate the cessation of your menstrual cycle, but that’s about all we can do.”

He sent off her prescription to be delivered to the clinic the next day. As she was walking out, he stopped her.

“Quinn? Make sure you talk to Sebastian. And I can't stress this enough - _don't drink pine tar._ ”

* * *

 Quinn had stopped at Pierre’s and the Saloon to pick up dinner before coming home. As she expected, Sebastian was there, working on his computer. When she closed the door behind her, he turned around to smile at her.

“I got chicken wings,” she said, holding up the bag for emphasis before putting it on the table. “Didn’t feel like cooking tonight.”

“What did the doctor say?” Sebastian asked. He abandoned his computer in favour of getting plates for the table. Quinn exhaled loudly.

“Can we talk about it later?” she asked, fully intending on avoiding it forever. “I want to eat first.”

Sebastian frowned. “No, we can talk about it now. What is it? Is everything okay?”

She scrunched up her eyes before she told him so she didn’t have to see his face.

“I had… am having… a false pregnancy. My body thinks it’s pregnant but there’s no baby.”

“Oh.”

When she opened her eyes to meet his, his upset expression felt like a punch in the gut.

“What do you mean, oh?” she asked. “It’s better than being actually pregnant.”

He shrugged. “I mean… I guess…”

She could hardly believe the scene in front of her. “Seb… Seb, do you… _want_ a baby?”

The blush that bloomed on his cheeks gave it away. She groaned.

“Sebastian. We are not having a baby.”

She swore she saw the shadow of a fucking _pout_ cross his face.

“Can we at least talk about it?” he asked. He closed the distance between them to hold both of her hands in his. “I mean… Quinn, I love you. I respect what you want, and if you don’t want it, then that’s fine by me, but I just want you to know that… that I want a family with you someday.”

Something about how genuine Sebastian was being while standing right in front of her felt like walking into a wall.

Here was Quinn, who really wasn’t a huge fan of kids, hated babies (despite what she told the mirror every time she looked at herself from the side), and worked a labor intensive job that would be hard to give up. On the other side was Sebastian, who was secretly a huge softie, apparently wanted to have kids with Quinn, and could help her with farm work if she needed him to.

Something about the way he kissed her then made the idea of a family seem a little more appealing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lesson of the day: don't drink pine tar, especially when it's the wizard who's giving it to you.  
> Also I LOVE SEBASTIAN SO MUCH.


	4. Chapter 4

The Flower Dance had to be Sebastian’s least favourite festival in Pelican Town. He didn’t really like most of them, but the Flower Dance was the worst.

Especially since he had to watch his girlfriend dance gleefully with Shane, who was somehow an excellent dancer.

He couldn’t deny that the look of happiness on Shane’s face as he spun Quinn around, though. It had seemed like something out of a movie to watch her help Shane get sober. 

He watched her dance with him, taking in the movements of the new lavender coloured dress Emily had made her. She wasn’t the most graceful dancer (Shane had to steady her a lot), but she was happy.

“Isn’t it weird?” Abby asked as she and Sam joined Sebastian near the snack table. “I’m so used to him looking like someone shoved dog shit under his nose, and here comes Quinn and it’s like he’s a totally different person.”

“He hasn’t come to work drunk in almost eight months,” Sam said with a grin. “He’s done awesome.”

“Why isn’t she dancing with you?” Abby looked up at Sebastian. “Considering she’s your girlfriend.”

“The Flower Dance is apparently her and Shane’s thing.” Sebastian couldn’t help but sound a little bitter. “That and she saw me dancing last year and didn’t want any part of it.”

Abby couldn’t hide her laughter and Sam snorted.

“Can you blame her? Watching Abby dance with you last year was _painful_ , Seb.”

“Like you did any better with Emily,” Sebastian shot back. “The poor girl was shell shocked after she was done with you.”

“You’re both idiots,” Abby giggled from behind her hand. “Good luck finding someone to dance with this year after the spectacle you put on last year.”

“Who are you dancing with, Abby?” Sam asked curiously. “If you’re not dancing with me or Sebastian…”

Abby blushed, which was a strange reaction to a simple question.

“Actually, Elliott asked me to dance,” she replied, the ghosts of her giggles long gone. “I thought it was weird at first but Quinn and Leah convinced me to say yes.”

Sebastian elbowed her in an attempt to provide comfort. “Elliott is a good guy, Abs.”

Apparently his two friends weren’t expecting that reaction from him and he received identical disbelieving stares.

“Since when do you think someone is a _good guy?”_ Sam sounded almost disgusted. “Who are you and where is Sebastian?”

Sebastian shrugged. “He’s friends with Quinn and she has him over for supper sometimes. She has guests over a lot, actually. Turns out I don’t mind people in this town as much as I thought I did.”

“What has she done to you?” Abby asked in mock horror. “Seriously, you’re like a completely different person. What’s going on?”

When Sebastian didn’t answer right away, Sam cut in for him.

“Can’t you see Abby? He’s in luuuurrrrvvvveeeeeeeeee!”

The two of them laughed when Sebastian blushed at that, but it didn’t bother him much. It was true.

He caught sight of Quinn once again who had taken a break from dancing and was now talking to a blonde woman holding hands with Doctor Fairchild. He assumed that was Rebecca, the doctor’s new girlfriend. Quinn hadn’t shut up about her coming to the Valley for the dance.

He must have been staring a little too hard (she had gone back to dancing with Shane and he couldn’t take his eyes off her) because Sam was snapping his fingers underneath his nose.

“Jeez, Seb, pay attention!”

“Sorry, got distracted.”

Abby rolled her eyes. “Clearly. I asked how you guys were doing. Anything you want to tell us?”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, Sebastian, come on.” Abby shot him the deadliest look he had ever seen. “I see the way that dress fits. She’s gaining weight.”

“Are you seriously _still_ on that whole ‘oh my Yoba is Quinn pregnant?’ thing? Give it a rest already.”

“Well? Is she?”

He looked at Sam and Abby and felt uncomfortable. He didn’t want to leave his two best friends in the dark (also, denying it would probably look like some suspicious non-denial, which would make them push the issue harder), but he also didn’t want to disclose private medical information about Quinn.

Then he remembered it was Quinn, who didn’t give a shit who knew what about her.

“She went to the doctor the other day,” he explained, huffing. “She’s having a false pregnancy. The symptoms are there but… no baby.”

“You seem upset,” Abby pointed out. “Why… why do you seem upset? And I’m not talking about ‘my girlfriend is suffering a really scary medical thing’ sort of upset. It’s something else.”

Seeing no point in lying to them, he looked the two of them square in the eyes.

“I dunno. I was kind of hoping… that it wasn’t false. Or something.”

Neither one of them said anything. He wasn’t really sure what they could say to that.

In the past, Sebastian had made it clear that he didn’t want to settle down, much less have kids. Somehow, though, Quinn brought out something inside of him that very much wanted to settle down and have kids. It was weird.

“I can’t explain it,” he said, trying to fill the silence. “This is a… recent thing.”

“I think it’s beautiful.” Sebastian was surprised to hear that Abby was fighting to keep her voice level. “You really care about her. That’s all I ever wanted for you. I wasn't expecting you to be the first one to go for this, but I think it's amazing."

“You sound like my mom.” Sebastian’s eyes practically rolled themselves out of the back of his head. “Please try not to sound like my mom.”

“I think you’d be a great dad,” Sam said finally, slapping him on the back. “Just gotta make sure the squirt knows that Uncle Sam is the real cool one.”

“Don’t talk like there’s a ‘squirt’ already. We’re still trying to figure this out.”

* * *

 “Shane, I swear on everything that is holy, if you don’t go ask Emily to dance with you already, I will throw you in the lake.”

Shane was really pissing Quinn off. He had had a crush on Emily _forever_ , but had never been able to work up the courage to ask her out.

“You’re worse than Clint,” Quinn told him as they danced. “Except you’re way less creepy, way more attractive, and you actually have a chance with Emily. So... not _really_ like Clint at all. Same principle.”

While Quinn had really wanted to dance with Shane all day, she couldn’t help herself when Leah told her that Emily didn’t have a partner that year. She had recently taken a liking to playing matchmaker for her friends, and her ultimate goal was to get Shane and Emily together.

“Quinn, you know I can’t ask her to dance,” Shane replied. “I’m… I’m not there yet.”

Quinn huffed in response. “You asked me, didn’t you?”

“You’re different, you’re my best friend.”

“You and Emily are good friends too!” she was beginning to get exasperated. “All you need to do is go over there and say, ‘hi Emily, would you like to dance with me?’”

“What if she asks why I’m not dancing with you anymore?” Shane was running out of excuses.

“Uh, tell her that I want to dance with my boyfriend, duh. Just go. The worst thing that can happen is that she says no, and if that happens, you can come dance with me again. Just please try.”

Shane sighed, but released Quinn’s waist and hand and squared his shoulders. Quinn smiled encouragingly.

She watched him walk over to Emily. He looked uncomfortable, but judging by the way Emily’s face lit up and how she dragged him back onto the dance floor, it had gone well regardless.

She shot him a thumbs up and made her way over to where Sebastian was standing with Sam and Abby. The three of them immediately stopped talking as soon as she got there, and Sebastian’s face was beet red.

“Whatcha talkin’ about?” she asked, her eyes darting between the three of them. “Is it the Roast of Sebastian St-Pierre over here or something?”

None of them answered her, but Sam looked past her to Shane and Emily. He pouted.

“If you’re not dancing with Shane, does that mean you came over to dance with Seb? And if Abby dances with Elliott… who am I dancing with?”

“You could ask Leah,” Quinn replied as though it was obvious. “She doesn’t have a partner.”

He couldn’t argue with that, and went to find the redhead. Abby was soon intercepted by Elliott, and she let him lead her to the dance floor, blushing and giggling.

“What were you guys talking about?” Quinn asked Sebastian once they were alone and trailing behind their friends. “Why are you so red?”

“I told them about… your thing.”

“I see,” she replied, getting him to take her waist and joining their left hands. “Did you also tell them you’ve gone absolutely baby crazy?”

The music for the main dance began and Quinn ended up leading. Sebastian copied her movements as well as he could, but she was sure that they looked awful.

“I’m not baby crazy,” Sebastian replied, a smile playing across his lips. “I was just… trying to plan for the future.”

She snorted. “Planning for the future my ass. Just admit you’ve developed baby rabies, Seb.”

“I will not.”

They grinned playfully at each other as they continued dancing. Sebastian occasionally stepped on Quinn’s feet, but otherwise, it wasn’t that bad.

When the Mayor announced that the Flower King and Queen would be crowned shortly, the music changed to something slower, and Sebastian pulled her closer to his chest. She rested her head just below his shoulder, and he laid his chin on the top of her head.

“You’d have to do the farm work for a bit,” she said softly. “If I’m going to have something the size of a watermelon blocking my way, I won’t be able to do much.”

He kissed her hair. “I know that.”

“If you fuck up my farm, I’m going to tell it that its father is a cow and that it doesn’t have to listen to you.”

“I know you make that seem like a threat, but Riju would be a great caretaker, you know.”

They danced a bit longer in silence.

“You know,” she said, removing her head from his shoulder and looking up at him. “I don’t like kids that much.”

“I know that, too.”

She sighed. “I don’t like them but… sometimes, I picture you holding one. For some reason it’s literally just a baby’s body with your head on top, but that’s not the point. I think about it and… maybe I like them more than I thought.”

He kissed her, his lips burning on hers. “I didn’t want them until I met you.”

“What have you done to me, Sebastian?” Her fingers traced aimless shapes on his chest. He kissed her again and it felt like they were the only two in the field.

“If everyone is ready, we are prepared to award the Flower Crowns!”

Lewis’s voice booming over the microphone startled both Quinn and Sebastian, and they begrudgingly broke apart from one another and gathered with the rest of the town.

She knew it was a waste of time, of course Haley and Alex would be winning this year. She had no idea why they didn’t just leave right then.

But somehow –

“This year, we have a new set of Flower Royalty!” Lewis said joyfully. “Move over, Haley and Alex, for Flower King and Queen: Sebastian and Quinn!”

Quinn started laughing loudly, almost hysterically, as everyone turned to look at her and Sebastian.

This had to be a joke.

“Can you please come up here so I can crown you?” Lewis asked, holding up the two flower crowns for emphasis. “I don’t really get what’s so funny, but it’s tradition!”

“Oh! Oh, you’re serious,” Quinn said, her laughter coming to a stop. “You’re serious. Oh… okay.”

She pulled Sebastian over to the small podium that elevated the Mayor and his microphone stand, where the flower crowns were placed neatly on their heads. She looked out and saw Robin beaming (while also evidently trying to hide laughter), Sam clapping, and Haley turning a shade of red that resembled a lobster.

That made Quinn smirk.

As soon as the pair had cleared the field, Sebastian yanked the crown off the top of his head.

“I can’t believe I wore this stupid thing,” he grumbled. “How come we won?”

“Because we’re a cuter couple than Alex and Haley, obviously.” Quinn kept her crown on. She liked it. It was made of small flowers, petunias and dried sweet pea, and every so often the floral aroma would catch in her nose. “I think the crown suits you so I’m keeping it.”

“I hope all the flowers die before you force me to wear it again,” he joked.

“Maybe you can wear it if we get married,” she said lightly. “Not that we have to do that. But wouldn’t that be just the cutest thing?”

“Are you saying you want to marry me?”

Quinn didn’t say anything in response, simply choosing to smile up at him while the setting sun caught a gleam in his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a dream where I was playing Stardew Valley and I got a dialogue box from Abigail that said she was dating Elliott and at first I was like "wait why am I dreaming about playing right now" but then... I ship it.  
> Also, I don't care if it's year 500 and I've done 500 chapters about the Flower Dance already, I will always write about the Flower Dance.


	5. Chapter 5

“Please tell me this is everything I need to bring you.”

Quinn was sitting on the floor of the community centre after dropping the last fish she needed to catch in the fish tank. Several rooms had been restored to their former glory, and the fish tank repaired itself right in front of her.

_Miss Quinn, you are almost there! We only need one more item!_

_The last item we need is a rabbit’s foot. Please bring us a rabbit’s foot!_

“I don’t have rabbits!” Quinn knew that she would regret not taking Robin up on her offer of a rabbit hutch. “How am I supposed to get a rabbit’s foot?”

_A rabbit will drop a foot when it is sufficiently cared for._

She was relieved that she at least wouldn’t have to cut off a foot.

She left the community centre and made a beeline straight for Robin’s shop. Before she could open the door, it swung open, barely missing her, and Sebastian stormed out.

“What’s wrong?” she called after him as he stomped off in the direction of her farm. He didn’t say anything. She shook her head and went inside.

She didn’t notice anything off when she entered, but she could tell that Robin was on edge behind the register. Peeking in to the lab, she noticed Demetrius standing with his back to her, doing nothing but resting his hands the counter.

“Is everything okay?” Quinn asked, approaching Robin. “I saw Sebastian just now, he looked pretty pissed.”

“He and Demetrius got in a fight,” Robin replied quietly. “Nothing unusual.”

“Can I ask what it was about?” Quin had lowered her voice as well. “I don’t want to pry, but I know he won’t be telling me.”

“Honestly? I don’t know. They just started yelling at each other when Sebastian came upstairs. They don’t seem to need reasons to fight with each other anymore.”

Quinn hated seeing Robin so stressed. She knew that all she wanted was for her son and her husband to get along, but Quinn had witnessed first hand how differently Demetrius treated Sebastian compared to Maru. But it wasn't like Sebastian made any effort either.

“I can talk to him when I get home,” she offered. Robin smiled tiredly at her.

“I appreciate that. You do so much for us, Quinn. Anyway. What brings you in today?”

“I need a rabbit hutch,” Quinn explained. “I’ve uh… decided to get rabbits. As pets.”

“Oh, I just love rabbits!” Robin exclaimed. “I had them as a kid. They do better indoors though, you know, if they're going to be pets. I can just build you a small addition to keep them so they can have their own space but they won’t be in your way.”

They worked out the details of a new room, and Quinn left feeling a little more confident about having rabbits. Robin would be able to help her out with them, at the very least.

Her next stop was to Marnie’s to pick out the rabbits themselves. Marnie was delighted to show her the selection.

“They’re a few months old, should be producing some wool and maybe even feet soon!”

Quinn couldn’t deny how cute the rabbits were, hopping around in their own barn stall. She decided on two sisters, and would come pick them up once Robin was done the hutch.

She made her way back to the farm as slow as possible. She knew she had to talk to Sebastian, but didn’t really want to. He’d be in one of his moods where everyone in the universe was his enemy, including her, and she didn’t really want to deal with it.

It was a bit of surprise to come home to see him calmly watching a re-run of Queen of Sauce and eating popcorn.

“Hey,” she called, slipping her shoes off and joining him on the couch. “How are you doing?”

“I’ve been better,” he replied, his voice a little hoarse from yelling, she assumed. “I like coming here to calm down, though.”

“What did you and Demetrius fight about?” she asked carefully. She didn’t want to make him angry at her too for pressing.

He shrugged. “Same old. He doesn’t think I do enough to help out around the house. And then he got at me for being here all the time. I’m twenty six years old but he yells at me like I’m still fucking sixteen.”

“You could always… move in with me.” Quinn looked at him hopefully, and he finally faced her to meet her eyes. “You wouldn’t have to deal with it anymore. Most of your stuff is here anyway…”

She had prepared more things to try to convince him, but she didn’t need to.

“Okay.”

“Well, that was easier than I thought,” she said, getting up. He chuckled.

“We were literally _just_ discussing whether I would wear a flower crown to our wedding if we decided to get married. Did you think I’d say no?”

* * *

 Quinn had begun brainstorming ways to get Morris out of JojaMart when she had finished with the Community Centre so Rasmodius could do whatever he needed to do.

It was clear that Morris wasn’t an idiot, so it would take careful planning. The Wizard had given her far too much creative control over this, as he wasn’t being a help at all.

She had caved on the first day of summer and told Sam everything. Sam was the only one she could think of who would believe her, and he did.

“So, let me get this straight.” He held up his hands. “That weird old guy in the forest is a wizard, and also Abby’s dad? And there’s talking apples who are helping rebuild the Community Centre? And my boss is like… a fucking dark lord or something?”

“That’s… yeah, that’s basically it,” Quinn replied. “You can’t tell anyone. Especially the thing about Rasmodius being Abby’s dad. He’d probably drown me in his cauldron.”

Sam didn’t say anything, and instead just stared at her. She began to panic, screaming at herself internally for telling him.

Finally –

“How can I help?”

While it wasn’t the response Quinn was expecting, she wasn’t surprised. Of course he’d offer to help.

“Not much, really,” she replied. “Unless you have a rabbits foot laying around somewhere. I could really use one of those.”

Sam hesitated. “Yeah, I do… but do I get it back after?”

“Gee, Sam, I would have thought that you’d be more interested in saving the town from a power hungry warlock who’s apparently heading a disease causing megacorporation threatening to shut down an honest man’s business than a foot.”

“Well when you put it like that…”

“Don’t worry,” she said breezily. “When I can finally get one of my rabbits to drop a foot, I’ll send it straight to you.”

They made their way over to Willow Lane, where they narrowly avoided getting their ears talked off by Jodi, to the dresser in Sam’s room.

“Don’t look when I open this drawer,” he said defensively. “It’s my underwear drawer.”

“You think I haven’t seen underwear before or something?” Quinn asked incredulously. “Honestly, Sam, I do your best friends' laundry, who up until recently, I assumed was just another you from an alternate universe. I can confidently say that I’ve probably seen your underwear before.”

Sam scowled as he rummaged around. “I knew someone was stealing underwear from me.”

He triumphantly pulled out a small white foot and placed it in Quinn’s hand.

“Please take very good care of this,” he said seriously. “I trust you.”

She rolled her eyes good naturedly, and began to drag him to the community centre. It was quiet when they entered, but she could hear the Junimos begin to buzz in anticipation.

_Miss Quinn and friend! You have the last item!_

_We knew you could do it, Miss Quinn! Thank you! Thank you!_

She handed the foot to the Junimo waiting at the cork board. It hopped up and down excitedly as the wall before them changed right in front of their eyes.

“Holy shit.” Sam sounded distant. “Holy shit, Quinn, you weren’t lying.”

The room was suddenly full of happy, bouncing Junimos. They were… wishing her goodbye?

“Wait!” she cried. “Where are you going?”

_This is no longer our home, we are no longer needed! Goodbai, Miss Quinn!_

And as quickly as the Junimos had come in to her life, they left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even want to talk about how long it took to get a god damn rabbit's foot in this stupid game.  
> Also I strongly believe that Abby is the wizard's daughter. I don't know what else I'm supposed to think lol.  
> And re: the rabbits, I have two rabbits and they're spoiled a f. They have their own bedroom. Personally I don't like when rabbits are kept outside, but that's just me.


	6. Chapter 6

JojaMart was boarded up and gone by the fifth day of summer. There was something so incredibly satisfying in standing out in front of the old store front, just staring at it.

She didn't know what Rasmodius had done to make it happen, but Morris angrily stormed into the newly completed community centre the morning before and Pierre called him out in front of the entire town and incited a boycott. 

In the days that followed, Pierre announced that he would be open on Wednesdays. Shane and Marnie ramped up their business selling eggs, milk, and truffles. Sam began to focus more on his music, and had come up with better material than he ever had.

Quinn was considered a town hero by the Mayor. The community centre had been rebuilt, seemingly out of nowhere, and Joja being run out of town meant that people were eating actual food again.

The community centre was now being used as a hub for Pelican Town. They held a flea market on Sundays, where people from surrounding areas would browse the wares that the town had to offer.

Pelican Town was doing excellent, but Quinn wasn’t.

She had been putting off talking about her false pregnancy for reasons she couldn’t explain to herself. She didn’t want to think about how empty it made her feel. She couldn’t even talk to Sebastian about it, because he would just repeat the same old “well, we’ll just try again soon” bullshit that he always did.

So that was how she found herself, smack in the middle of summer, sitting in a doctor’s office in the city. 

“So, it would appear that your years of birth control have made this a slow process.”

The doctor was an older woman with a kind face. She had asked Quinn a series of questions and checked her medical records.

“It does take time to get pregnant, Miss Briar. You can’t expect it to happen overnight. How often do you and your partner have intercourse?”

Quinn cleared her throat awkwardly. “Almost every night.”

She had blamed her sudden lustiness to Sebastian on the season. He didn’t have a reason not to believe her, and didn’t suspect that she was spending almost every waking moment thinking about babies. She was incredibly sore, but didn't want to give up.

“And how long have you been off birth control?”

Quinn did some mental math before answering. “Since roughly the middle of spring.”

The doctor chuckled. “Well, I’d give it a little more time. Especially after your body thinks it’s been through a pregnancy already. You can also try tracking your ovulation cycle and focus more on trying on days that you’re actively ovulating.”

“So just to be clear,” Quinn said. “I’m not like… unable to get pregnant, right?”

“Oh, heavens girl, no! You’re twenty five years old and at the exact physical condition to conceive. It just takes a bit of patience, that’s all.”

She left the clinic feeling a little better, and feeling a little silly for expecting things to happen just because she wanted them to.

* * *

 She could hear Sebastian cursing and smoke pluming out from the kitchen when she got home. He had moved in recently, and had been trying to dive head first into some sort of domestic routine, which apparently included cooking (and burning) their dinner.

“What are you trying to do?” she asked as she stepped inside. “You’re going to make everyone think the house is burning down.”

“I was trying to do something nice for you,” he said exasperatedly. “But I’ve never cooked this before…”

She peered into the pot on the stove. It was just black sludge. “What were you trying to make?”

“Lobster bisque,” he replied glumly. “This is… was… the lobster.”

She started laughing then, loudly and genuinely. Sebastian had truly gotten himself into a mess and she couldn’t help but laugh at it.

“It’s not funny! These were the last two lobsters in the fridge!”

“I’ll just put out some crab pots and see if I can get more.” She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, chuckles still escaping her lips. “And then we’ll get a lesson from Gus so this doesn’t happen again. You can just throw that pot out, and there’s a frozen pizza in the freezer.”

He moped around the kitchen as he prepared the pizza and didn’t look at her in the living room until he brought out her plate.

“So what’s with the lobster?” she asked, still amused. “You probably should have asked your mom for help.”

“I was trying to be… romantic,” he replied gingerly. “I don’t know, I just wanted to do something for you.”

“How romantic, you burned shellfish into one of my pots and made our whole house smell like the ocean. You’re so good to me.”

She was expecting him to get back at her for digging at him like that, but instead his whole face brightened. She gave him a _what the fuck are you on about_ look.

“You said ‘our house.’ I like it when you call it ours.”

“I made fun of you and all you can focus on is how I said it was our house? That’s mature of you, Sebastian. Very adult.”

Her tone was light, but when she looked at him and that goofy smile, she felt her heart explode with more love than she thought she would ever feel.

* * *

 “So, I hear you were in the city to go to a fertility clinic.”

Quinn nearly spit her coffee all over Robin’s kitchen table. She had been invited for breakfast with both her and Maru, and everything had been going _so well_ up until that question.

“Where, uh… where did you hear that?” Quinn asked, hiding her burning face behind her mug.

“Oh, a little birdie told me,” Robin replied, looking pointedly at Maru, who shot daggers at her mother with her eyes.

“Okay, first of all, it was just a regular clinic, and I wanted to speak to a female doctor about it,” Quinn explained. “And second, since Maru is apparently sharing my records with everyone but somehow left this detail out, I was also there because I had a… false pregnancy… and wanted to make sure it wouldn’t… um… affect my chances at a… well, a real one someday.”

Robin raised an eyebrow. “A real one? Are you and Sebastian –”

“We’ve talked about it,” Quinn admitted, keeping her voice light. “It’s something that we both want.”

She watched as Robin’s jaw literally dropped. When nothing was said, she looked over at Maru.

“Did I just break your mom?” she asked. Maru chuckled.

“Mom _really_ wants grandkids. I think she had just accepted that it probably wasn’t going to happen, and having you waltz into her kitchen and tell her that it’s going to happen is probably a lot to process right now.”

Robin seemed to snap out of whatever trance she was in and began to babble excitedly about babies.

“Seb’s always been good with kids,” she said. “Vincent just loves him. It’s always surprised Jodi.”

A devilish grin spread over her lips as she mentioned her best friends name.

“Speaking of Jodi,” she said with a cackle. “She owes me twenty gold.”

“What did you bet this time?” Maru asked.

“Which one of our sons would end up with Quinn.” Robin cackled again. “I always knew it would be Sebastian. I can probably squeeze more out of her now with the promise of children.”

“You made a _bet_ about me?” Quinn asked in disbelief. “Is there really nothing else to do around here?”

* * *

Quinn had become so accustomed to having Sebastian around on the farm that when she was finished her farm work outside, the only thing she could think of to do on a day he was gone was laundry.

She didn’t have to run any errands, she had stocked up on seeds and gotten groceries the day before, and it seemed that every single person in town was busy and couldn’t hang out with her.

Sebastian was in the city for work, something about a client who requested an actual demonstration, and as Quinn stared at the pile of laundry before her, she cursed his absence.

She hated doing laundry (the five loads she ended up having to do spoke to that) and it took all day. She mindlessly watched movies in between loads, and the pile of clean clothes, towels and sheets to fold overtook her couch.

“I should really do this more often,” she said to Trillium as her arms began to get sore. “I’d have less to fold that way.”

As Trillium usually did, the cat meowed at her as if to say, “obviously.”

She folded and folded and finally was surrounded by neat stacks of clean laundry. It was nice.

Sebastian had moved in his own dresser so they wouldn’t have to share hers. She had a bad habit of never throwing out clothes she didn’t wear, so there wasn’t room in hers for his clothes anyway.

As she was putting his socks and underwear away, something scraped along the bottom of the drawer that didn’t sound like either a pair of socks or underwear.

Curious, she rooted around until her fingers ran across something metal. She pulled it out and nearly dropped it as soon as she saw it.

She had only seen one once before, but she knew exactly what it was.

She had to bury it quickly under Sebastian’s underwear again when she heard the front door open. She slammed the dresser shut and busied herself with putting the rest of the clothes away when Sebastian came in.

“Hey, you,” he said, smiling as soon as he saw her. “I picked up some Chinese before I left the city, should still be warm.”

“Oh, thank you,” she replied, her voice higher than she wanted it to be. She cursed herself mentally for being so obvious.

Sebastian only raised an eyebrow to indicate that he noticed she was acting weird. She figured it was because she had been acting weird to him a lot lately.

“Did you do the laundry?” he called from the bedroom after she sat down to eat. “I was going to do that tomorrow. How many loads did you do?”

“Like, five.” She had stuffed her mouth with rice so he wouldn’t hear her nervous tone again. “I uh… I put your stuff away.”

He emerged once again, in different clothes. “Thanks!”

She couldn’t help it. She had to know.

“I put your underwear and socks away,” she said, hoping he would come to the conclusion that she wanted him to. “In the top drawer. Where they belong.”

He narrowed his eyes a little and she could practically see the gears turning in his brain as he tried to figure out what the fuck she was talking about.

And then, he got it. His eyes widened slightly and she could see that he was beginning to sweat.

“Oh yeah? Did you find –”

“Yup.”

“So you saw –”

“Yup.”

His sweating got worse. “I probably should have hidden it better.”

“Yup.” She couldn’t meet his eyes. They fell silent and he sat across from her with his own plate. They ate without a word, until he looked over at her and she looked at him.

“So… uh…” he started. “Will you –”

“Yup.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO ROMANTIC, SEBASTIAN  
> (says the girl who got proposed to in a zoo parking lot. My husband didn't even ask, he just pulled out the ring and I started crying and was like "yah ok") (it was happy tears btw)


	7. Chapter 7

Maru and Penny’s wedding crept up on Pelican Town. It had been all anyone could talk about for weeks, and it was finally happening.

The ceremony itself was beautiful. The brides both wore long, elegant ivory dresses designed by Emily, and the town square was decorated with floral arches and arrangements that Caroline proudly pointed out to anyone who would listen.

Quinn couldn’t help but openly weep at the touching vows that both of them read – Maru spoke about knowing Penny was the one for her since they were children, and Penny tearfully thanked Maru for being the most constant thing in her life.

When the Mayor directed them to kiss, Quinn could barely bite back the sob that came out of her. From beside her, Sebastian rolled his eyes but patted her hand to comfort her.

“You’re worse than my mother,” he whispered, jerking his head in the direction of Robin, who was trying to blow her nose quietly.

“It’s just so beautiful,” Quinn said, her voice sounding like she was speaking from ten feet underwater. “I’m so happy for them. I was one of the first people Maru told and… I’m just so happy.”

Everyone got up for both Maru and Penny to throw their bouquets behind them. Jas caught Penny’s, and she excitedly waved it in Shane’s face. When Maru threw hers, she turned her head a little to make eye contact with Quinn, and lobbed it directly at her. Quinn fumbled with it, but caught it before it hit her in the face.

“Oh, Quinn,” Maru cooed, her voice dripping with pointed sweetness. “You caught the bouquet!”

Quinn laughed uneasily as she showed it off to Robin and Caroline, who had suddenly crowded her.

She and Sebastian had kept their less than romantic engagement a secret for Maru’s wedding, and couldn’t agree on how to tell everyone. Sebastian had suggested just getting married at the City Hall in Zuzu and telling everyone after the fact, but Quinn wanted something more like Maru and Penny. Her mermaid pendant was tucked securely inside her bra on the chain for the time being.

Quinn continued to shed tears through Maru and Penny’s first dance. She was thankful that she and Abby had done their makeup together before the ceremony, as all Abby had was waterproof.

“I can’t help it,” she blubbered to Sebastian and Sam. “I’m such an overemotional piece of shit sometimes. Weddings are the worst because they make me so happy.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes once again and Sam awkwardly patted her back. They were terrible at comforting a friend in need.

Demetrius was acting as the DJ for the wedding, and although his song choices embarrassed everyone in attendance, Quinn still found it in herself to drag Sebastian onto the dancefloor, and then she similarly dragged Sam and Abby as well.

The four of them got progressively worse at dancing as they downed more drinks. Maru had practically pushed them at the bar, saying something about not wanting to waste liquor. Quinn could feel the sugar on her teeth after a few, but kept going.

Her dance moves were truly awful, but it didn’t stop Sebastian from looking at her like she was the only one in the room. He held her close from behind and whispered in her ear.

“I love you so much, you know that?”

“You fucking sap,” she giggled. “Get a load of this guy.”

Sam made fake throwing up noises and Abby joined Quinn in her giggles.

The night wound down and they said goodbye to their friends (after helping an extremely drunk Abigail into her house) and headed home.

The combination of the humidity and the dancing made both Quinn and Sebastian sweaty, and their clothes stuck to their skin. When they entered their bedroom, they had to help each other peel their clothes off.

As Quinn’s bra came off, she couldn’t help but notice that Sebastian’s eyes were drawn to the pendant dangling between her breasts, with a smile stretching across his face.

She shook her head. “You  _are_ a fucking sap.”

* * *

 Sam’s birthday was coming up, and Abigail had roped Quinn and Sebastian into a planning committee for a surprise party.

It was because of this that Quinn found herself foraging around the Cindersap Forest for sweet pea and spice berries to put in some kind of elaborate arrangement that Abby had cooked up.

The Forest was the easiest place to forage because of the wide open space and the fact that it seemed as though wild flowers ran rampant here. It didn’t take long to fill her backpack with the items she needed.

As she was finishing up, she came across a small clear area, and right in the middle was a single purple capped mushroom.

_…eat me…_

She looked at the mushroom in surprise. She had only ever come across such an item in the mines, and even that was rather rare.

… _eat me…_

After her last attempt at making a red mushroom edible, she had marched down to the library and looked mushrooms up. Apparently, the red one was the only one that made people sick and the purple ones were fine.

… _Eat Me…_

Despite the fact that she had a few field snacks in her bag, along with foraged grapes and spice berries, she was hit with an overwhelming urge to eat the purple mushroom in front of her. She didn’t even like mushrooms (despite the failed attempts at eating the red ones), so she was a little taken aback.

… _EAT ME…_

“Oh, okay. Fuck it. I’ll eat it.”

She plucked the mushroom from the ground and took the entire cap in her mouth. It tasted pretty much exactly what she would expect it to, and although a bit disappointed, she finished chewing and swallowed it.

Discarding the stalk, she made to head back to the farm, but felt inexplicably tired. The farm was so far away, but the soft grass was right there…

“Maybe I’ll take a nap.”

She lowered herself onto the ground gracelessly and fell asleep almost immediately.

When she woke up again, she could feel shoulders under both of her armpits, and her feet were dragging slightly. She couldn’t force her eyes open, but she heard voices.

“… just found her like this, I don’t know what happened…”

“… did the right thing by coming to get me, she’s always getting herself into messes like this…”

“… not sure what might have happened if I didn’t…”

“… see the mushroom stalk? I couldn’t tell what colour it was…”

She still couldn’t open her eyes and she couldn’t force a noise out of her throat, but she recognized the voices as Leah and Shane. She had no idea where she was or what was going on. Where did they find her?

She heard a knock next, a door opening, and a groan.

“Please tell me you didn’t find her in the mines.”

That was Harvey’s voice. She was able to piece together that something had happened to her and Shane and Leah had to drag her to the clinic. She didn’t think she had gone into the mines, but she had no recollection of what had happened.

“No, in the Forest,” Leah explained. She felt her weight shift to just one body, meaning that Harvey probably had a hold of her now. “She was passed out near my house, we found a mushroom stalk next to her but she must have eaten the cap because we couldn’t tell what colour it was.”

Another groan from Harvey. “She’s a menace. Thank you for bringing her.”

Footsteps grew fainter, indicating that Leah and Shane had left. Harvey shifted her weight a little, and with a close of the clinic door, brought her inside and laid her on one of the beds. He sighed and she heard some rattling around.

“What are we going to do with you, Quinn?” he asked as he pushed a needle into her arm. She wasn’t really bothered by needles, not like she could do anything with her current form anyway, but a little warning would have been nice. “You need to stop eating mushrooms.”

Ah, there it was. She remembered the purple capped mushroom now.

But weren’t purple mushrooms edible?

Harvey fussed over her a bit before she heard him leave the room and apparently speak to someone on the phone. She couldn’t tell who it was by the conversation.

“I don’t know if you can hear me or not,” he said as he came back in the room. “But it’s late, and assuming you ate a red mushroom again, I gave you some anti-nausea medication so you won’t be worse off when you wake up. I called Sebastian to let him know, and he will be by in the morning. I am going to bed, but you know where to find me if you need to.”

From behind the eyelids she still couldn’t open, she saw the light leave the room and heard Harvey retreat upstairs into his apartment.

She wanted to scream, but couldn’t even move her mouth let alone make a noise.

She didn’t know how long she was in the still clinic for before she could wrench her eyes open, but it had to be a few hours at the very least. The room was dark, but she could tell that it was mostly due to the curtains pulled across the window. Faint sunlight was peeking through the gaps, indicating early morning.

The room was dark for a moment, then a flash.

She blinked a few times and her eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness again after the momentary light. Rasmodius was standing at the foot of her bed, likely the source of the flash.

“Idiot girl,” he hissed. “You are lucky to still be here.”

Slowly and painfully, she pulled herself up onto her elbows to look at him.

“Eating something off the ground like that,” he continued. “You have no idea what you’re doing.”

“I eat stuff off the ground all the time,” she argued groggily. “Purple mushrooms are safe, it’s just red ones that people can’t eat.”

Rasmodius frowned, deep lines making craters in his forehead. “Have you not forgotten the magical influence driven from this place? Do you really think that the warlock Morris would not try to avenge his loss?”

Quinn's mouth dropped in shock, suddenly feeling very awake. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve been feeling his influence ever since JojaMart was packed up. He is not going down without a fight. Despite the fact that I weakened him, he is… taking it personally.”

“Fuck.” Quinn slammed her body back onto the mattress. “I’m guessing that’s why that mushroom knocked me out.”

“It was supposed to kill you,” Rasmodius said with a scowl. “You’re lucky for your friends. Just _stop eating things off the ground._ ”

“I wouldn’t have eaten it if you had warned me that it was cursed.” She pouted and crossed her arms. “Way to look out for me.”

“I am not here to look out for you,” the wizard replied curtly. “I must go. Your friends approach.”

With a crack and another flash of light, he was gone, and barely a beat later, Harvey entered with Sebastian.

“Who were you talking to?” Harvey asked suspiciously. “And what was that noise?”

“Myself,” Quinn lied quickly. “And I was… snapping… my fingers…? I have to get my practice in. I only learned how to do it, like, last year.”

Harvey’s eyes narrowed as if he didn’t believe her, but he didn’t say anything. Sebastian hesitated at the door.

“I’m not hooked up to anything,” she said, raising her arms to show the lack of lines. “You can come in.”

He did so, and enveloped her in a warm hug.

“I have to say, telling people that they can just walk right into your house may not have been your best decision,” he said into her hair. “Shane walked in last night to tell me you were here and then left with no explanation. He freaks me out.”

She had to laugh at that. “Sounds about right.”

“You are free to go home whenever you wish,” Harvey said, still from the door. “I don’t want to keep you.”

As Quinn was about to leave, Harvey held her arm to stop her.

“I don’t know what was going on in here this morning, Quinn,” he said lightly. “But just remember that you have friends who can help you.”


	8. Chapter 8

Quinn was getting a bit paranoid, and she was running out of explanations.

Although she had taken to combing the forest for any stray mushrooms and hurling them into the lake, she couldn’t stop all of them, and one day found herself tackling Leah to whack a common mushroom from her hand.

“What the hell, Quinn?” Leah’s voice was muffled under Quinn’s body. “I was going to put that in a salad.”

Quinn picked herself up and threw the mushroom to meet a similar fate in the water. “You can’t go around eating things you picked up off the ground. You don’t know what could be hiding in it.”

“Says the idiot who eats _literally everything_ she finds off the ground.” Leah dusted herself off indignantly. “There’s nothing wrong with common mushrooms.”

“You don’t know that,” Quinn retorted, her eyes wild. “Promise me you’ll stop foraging for mushrooms? Pierre sells them. Or, I have some growing in a cave on the farm that I always forget exists.”

“You know I can’t afford to do that,” Leah replied gently.

Quinn rocked back on the balls of her feet and she felt the familiar squeeze of her insides as an image of Leah laying blue faced on the ground forced its way into her head.

“I will buy you mushrooms.” She was getting desperate. “Or at least… I don’t know… go see Harvey after you eat the mushrooms.”

Leah frowned, her eyes narrowing. “You’re acting weird. What’s going on?”

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me, so it’s best that you just take me seriously.”

“What is that supposed to me- Quinn! Where are you going?”

As if to cement the warning she gave, Quinn had turned and run full tilt back towards the farm. If it was a bad idea to just leave Leah like that, she hadn’t considered it.

She didn’t know if the wizard had been trying to scare her that day in the clinic when he said that she could have died, but the last thing she wanted was someone else dying because he couldn’t be bothered to show his face to warn anyone. And if people thought she was acting weird by trying to save them from the same unknown fate, she could deal with that.

When she returned home, she was greeted by the sight of Sebastian sitting on the couch with Sam, Abby and Harvey. Sebastian got up when she closed the door behind her.

Immediately suspicious, Quinn looked between her friends and narrowed her eyes. The front door was closed, but she didn’t take her hand off it. “Hi, everyone.”

“I know this probably looks like an ambush,” Sebastian said, walking to her and gently pulling her away from the door to seat her on the couch beside Abby. “But we… we’re really worried about you.”

“You shouldn’t be.” Quinn folded her arms. “I’m just fine.”

“Except you’re not,” Abby argued. “You’re running on fumes, we can all tell, look at you! When was the last time you slept? I mean a real sleep too, not just a nap.”

Before Quinn could answer, Sebastian did it for her. “Not since the clinic.”

“Quinn, that was almost two weeks ago!” Harvey looked almost offended. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I have so slept,” Quinn snapped angrily. “Can you just leave me alone? I have a lot of shit to take care of right now and this isn’t doing anything helpful.”

“We’re worried about you –” Abby began to echo Sebastian’s words, but Quinn cut her off.

“Well, stop. Okay? I’m _fine._ I’m a fucking adult, leave me be. Whatever is worrying you, forget about it. I’m not doing anything wrong. Just… fuck off!”

With that, she got off the couch, shoved Sebastian away, and left, slamming the door to her own house.

* * *

 Sebastian sighed in frustration as Quinn left the house. This wasn’t really what he had planned on happening.

He had called Sam, Abby and Harvey over in the hopes that at least one of them would be able to get Quinn to explain her recent behavior. She hadn't been sleeping much, or eating (despite what she liked to tell him), and she had recently begun embodying every movie stereotype of a patient in an old-time mental asylum. He knew that she wasn't going to say anything to him, and cornering her like this was a last ditch attempt. 

“I told you she wouldn’t take this well,” Harvey grumbled. “She’s overworked and obviously has a lot on her mind. We should have approached this more tactfully.”

“I’ll go after her,” Sebastian said, slipping on his shoes. To his surprise, Sam did the same.

“I’ll go with you. I sort of know what’s going on, and trust me when I say she’s not going to want to tell you.”

Sebastian stared at his best friend, accusingly. “What are you talking about?”

“I said trust me, dude.”

Sebastian didn’t, but let Sam lead the way out of the farm house anyway. Sam said he had a feeling that they should check the forest, and since apparently Sam was Quinn’s new best friend, he bitterly followed.

Although silent, Sebastian’s head was swimming with the possibilities of things that Quinn had never told him.

His thoughts were interrupted by Sam pushing his shoulder down to crouch behind a bush. Her shrill voice suddenly surrounded them.

“I know you’re fucking home, you asshole,” she said, bringing her fist down on what Sebastian assumed was a door. A door, though? In the middle of the forest? He looked at Sam and frowned.

“All of your lights are on, Rasmodius! I can literally see you right now!”

The name Rasmodius sounded familiar. Why couldn’t he place it?

“Sam, where are we?” he hissed. Sam’s expression turned dark.

“You’re not going to fucking believe this.”

Sebastian listened to Sam’s whispered explanation. It was quite the tale, involving talking apples, wizards, and Sam’s old boss. He frowned.

“Sam, that sounds ridiculous. You know there's no way I believe a word you just said.”

“And this is why she told me and not you,” Sam replied, craning his head over the bush. “Shit, I think she went inside. Come on.”

Sam got up and ventured towards a building that Sebastian hadn’t noticed (on account of being shoved into a bush). It was tall and a bit misshapen, and looked a bit like a tower straight out of Solarian Chronicles.

“What the fuck, dude?” he whisper-cried as he caught up to Sam. “Don’t fucking tell me we’re going in there.”

“Of course we aren’t,” Sam replied. “We’re just scoping it out.”

Sam was taller than Sebastian, so he was the one to peek in the windows. They were clearly old and full of dust, so he had to move around quite a bit before he found a clear spot.

“What do you see?” Sebastian asked, hoping that the movement wouldn’t alert anyone inside to what was going on outside. “Is Quinn in there?”

Sam nodded. “Yeah, she’s… yelling or something, I think. She’s pissed. I can’t hear anything.”

Sebastian lightly pressed his ear to the door and found that while Sam could see what was going on, he could hear.

“… I’m not fucking around right now, there’s something seriously fucking wrong. I can feel it everywhere I go, and it never goes away. I don’t know what it is but you need to FIX IT.”

That was Quinn. She sounded angrier than he had ever heard her.

“I need to fix nothing.” The voice was serene in the face of a violently angry small woman. Sebastian assumed it was the wizard Sam had told him about. “This is your own doing, Miss Briar. You must fix it.”

“I don’t even know what’s fucking wrong!” Quinn was practically screaming. “I can just feel it, something is coming and I don’t know what to do!”

“You will find it in yourself, in due time.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I’m not the fucking magic one here!”

“It is not entirely magic, you idiot girl.” The wizard’s tone indicated that he was quickly losing patience. “This is exactly the thing that Morris had planned for you. You are unraveling from within, do not let this happen.”

"You're so fucking useless! What good is a wizard if he doesn't DO ANYTHING?"

“She looks like she’s going to cry,” Sam murmured. Sebastian had honestly forgot he had been watching the whole thing without as much context. “Oh, shit, she’s coming this way, hide!”

Sebastian dove behind the side of the house and Sam did the same on the other side just as the door slammed open and Quinn sprinted out. Sebastian didn’t move until he was sure he wouldn’t be seen.

“That was close – ” Sam began, but was cut off by the sudden appearance of the man Quinn had been talking to. He was a tall and slightly foreboding man, with purple hair and a wide hat. He looked like every cartoon wizard Sebastian had ever seen.

“You must take care of her,” he said gravely. “For her own good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm super behind on writing this.  
> I've been really distracted and unmotivated for this lately, so my updates might not be as quick as they usually are. I don't have this on a schedule or anything, so I'm not about to start. I will finish this, though, don't worry. Fingers crossed it's before the end of the month (I'll be starting a new job by then and it's soooo many hours that I probably won't want to even think about Quinn).  
> Also, when I'm not here, you can find me on Tumblr @emilywritesnonsense :) I don't post much, but I always have it open if you'd like to chat, send a request for a fic, anything.


	9. Chapter 9

“Can we _at least_ tell your mom?”

“Not yet. I don’t know why I have to keep telling you that.”

Quinn made a frustrated noise and unfolded her arms. They had been so tightly pressed against her chest that removing them actually hurt.

“And why not?” She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. “You embarrassed of me or something?”

Sebastian looked taken aback. “What? No, of course not. I _know_ I’m lucky. It’s just… No one is going to be normal about this, you know? I mean, you saw how obsessed mom got with Maru’s wedding, can you imagine how bad she’s going to be when it’s the kid she never thought would leave the basement? It’ll be like that, only with literally every single person in town.”

“Give your mom some credit, Seb, she won a bet with Jodi about us ending up together.” Quinn sighed. “I just really want to get excited with people about this. You’re not even letting me tell Sam and Abby and I feel like my head is going to explode from not telling them when I’m around them. They’re not going to tell anyone!”

She felt hurt that Sebastian didn’t seem to be as excited to talk about a wedding as she was. They still couldn’t decide how to handle it, and it was mostly Sebastian who was holding off.

“Please, Seb,” she tried again. “I’ve been thinking about my wedding since I knew what a wedding was. Just let me have this.”

She put on her best impression of a puppy, and Sebastian looked like he got punched in the gut.

_Bingo._

“Fine,” he said with a defeated huff. “You can tell Abby. But not near her mom. She’s just as bad as mine is.”

Quinn sprang up and felt something other than the paranoia taking over her life. It wasn’t exactly the over the top announcement that she had wanted, but she’d take what she could get.

“…Do you have to go over there _now?_ ”

She stuck her tongue out at Sebastian. “Of course I do. This is literally burning a hole in my head.”

“Guess I’ll just water the crops then…”

She beamed. “Thanks, Seb!”

She did feel a bit guilty for leaving him to do her work, but she reasoned that, so late in the season, there wasn’t much left to water anyway.  He’d have to get used to it.

She practically sprinted to Abby’s house, running past Pierre with a quick greeting and falling into her friends room, chest on fire and face beet red.

Abby looked up from her game in surprise. “Quinn? What are you doing here? Elliott, get up. Quinn’s here.”

It was Quinn’s turn to look surprised as Elliott got up from the bean bag beside Abby. He had been slumped in on himself, evidently asleep, and she hadn’t noticed him there.

“First I gotta say,” Quinn said, gesturing between the two of them. “I’m _into this._ I love it. Did you get him to play Prairie King with you?”

“No,” Abby said with an over exaggerated scowl, elbowing Elliott. “He fell asleep halfway through. Not that he was helping.”

“Controllers are not my forte, my dears,” Elliott replied sleepily. Abby stuck her tongue out.

“Anyway, what’s up?” she asked, closing the door behind Quinn. “I know you didn’t run all the way here just to say hi.”

“Oh, yeah!” Quinn almost forgot. “I’m really only supposed to tell Abby, but just pretend like you’re surprised and it’s the first time you’re hearing this when you hear it again, Elliott.”

Elliott looked politely curious and Abby cocked her head.

“I’m getting married!” Quinn burst. “Seb’s been _so_ annoying about it and doesn’t want anyone to know for some bullshit reason, but he asked and I said yes!”

Abby’s face lit up and she half-jumped in surprise. “Seriously? Quinn, that’s amazing! Can I see the pendant?”

“I, too, would like to see it,” Elliott piped up serenely. “I’ve never seen one in person.”

Quinn reached down the front of her shirt to bring out the pendant, but nothing was there.

“Oh _fuck._ ”

“What’s wrong?” Elliott asked. Quinn pulled out the chain of the necklace, minus the seashell at the end.

“It fell off.”

She could feel all of the colour draining from her face. She hadn’t felt it fall off and had no idea where it was now.

“We have to go find it, then,” Abby said confidently, slipping on the shoes she kept by the door. “You said Seb doesn’t want people to find out, so we’re going to have to go find it before anyone else does. Like my mom.”

Quinn groaned. “Yoba, don’t even bring that up. Seb would _murder me_.”

The three of them exited Abby’s room and the house, fanning out a bit outside the general store.

“I came right here from home, so it should be around here somewhere,” Quinn said, her eyes glued on the ground.

“There,” Elliott said, pointing.

Unfortunately for Quinn, Elliott’s voice carried over to the other side of the town square, where the Mom Squad was hanging out in full membership. Robin, Jodi and Caroline all looked up at the same time, and all three of them turned their heads to follow where Elliott was pointing.

“ _Fuck.”_

Abby’s voice sounded like it was a million miles away when Quinn drew her eyes up, as if in slow motion, to meet Robin’s.

She wasn’t sure how the three of them knew that the pendant belonged to her, but she was sure it had something to do with the fact that her body stiffened, her mouth went slack, and sweat practically rained from her pores.

And then the screaming started.

“MY SON, MY BABY SEBBY…”

“…Oh Quinn, this so wonderful!”

“…You just _have_ to let me do the floral arrangements!”

“I NEVER THOUGHT HE WOULD LEAVE THE BASEMENT AND NOW LOOK AT HIM! MY LITTLE BASEMENT GOBLIN!”

Amidst the hubbub, Quinn looked past the still hollering Mom Squad (who had, at some point, been joined by Emily, who was equally as excited) to see Sam standing behind them with Sebastian, who looked somewhere between angry and amused.

She nervously sidled over to him, Abby and Elliott following.

“The pendant fell off,” she confessed bashfully. “I know you didn’t want me to tell anyone but Abby…”

“I guess that’s just how things work around here,” Sebastian replied, looking down at her through his hair with a smile. “They all find out somehow.”

* * *

 For what felt like the millionth night in a row, Quinn couldn’t sleep.

She knew better than to wander into the forest or the mines so late at night, so she headed towards the beach. The Saloon was still open for another three hours, so she figured the only people she’d run into were Pam or Emily.

The late summer made the air a bit chilly at night. It would soon be time for the jelly migration again. She smiled as she remembered the previous year, how shy she was holding hands with Sebastian, hidden away from their friends. She chuckled lightly as she remembered how Abby had offered her sweater, revealing another sweater underneath.

She didn’t deserve her friends.

She sat in the sand near the old campfire in front of Elliott’s house and hugged her knees to her chest.

“Nice night, huh?”

Her head whipped around to a surprising sight.

Alex was making his way through the sand to sit beside her. She didn’t say anything, just stared.

“Hope I’m not interrupting any late night thoughts,” he said lightly as he crossed his legs. “I saw you walking down here while I was taking the garbage out. Thought it would be nice… to talk.”

She still didn’t say anything. The weight of the tension around them felt like an elephant trying to sit on her head.

_It could have been anyone in this town, and it was Alex who followed me…_

“You don’t have to say anything,” Alex said. “I don’t expect you to. Honestly, I… don’t even know what I came here to say. I just wanted to talk to you.”

She made a “hm” noise at the back of her throat, but that’s all she allowed herself.

“Grandma told me what happened this afternoon,” he said, sounding distant. “Congratulations. I’m happy that you found… someone.”

“You never did like Sebastian.” Her voice was soft, but she knew she heard him.

Since Alex had stormed out of her house the night she broke up with him, she had barely spared him a second thought. Except, perhaps, when she found the head of a chicken on her doorstep. But that was more about Haley than it was about Alex.

“No, I didn’t.” She heard him exhale through his nose in amusement. “But you did.”

“Yeah,” she replied, because that’s all that there was to say.

They sat in silence a few moments longer, the only sound coming from the waves, but it was less awkward than Quinn thought it was going to be.

“Listen…” he said, clearing his throat. “I’m really sorry about all that stuff with Haley. She holds grudges for no reason. I tried to stop her but… I mean, you’ve seen what she can do. I just wanted you to know I didn’t have anything to do with any of it. I didn’t even know she was going to do some of the stuff she did. It was fucked up.”

“I never did take you for the kind of guy who would behead one of my chickens,” Quinn said. “You don’t have to apologize for anything, Alex. I know it wasn’t you. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry for being a shitty person to you. You didn’t deserve any of it.”

He elbowed her lightly, almost playfully. “Just two shitty people, down on the beach.”

 They fell back into silence, this time more comfortable than the last.

“How’s the farm doing?” he asked, finally.

“Shane and Sam aren’t quite as efficient as you, but I got most of the shit cleared.” She smiled at the memory of Alex chopping the wood strewn across her property. “It looks pretty decent now, actually.”

“How have _you_ been?” When she looked over at him, his face looked almost worried. “I heard you had to go to the clinic after hours and… if I’m being honest, Quinn, you look like shit.”

“Gee, thanks, Alex.” She grimaced. “I’m fine. Just a little stress, is all. I don’t handle it very well.”

“Maybe take it easy a bit, yeah? After all, you’ve got a big strong man on your farm to help you out.”

She laughed. “Sure thing, Doctor Alex.”

* * *

 Sebastian had been having dreams that he couldn’t explain.

Nothing horrific really ever happened in them, they were just strange and a bit disturbing if he thought too hard about them.

The first one featured an elegant wedding, and he quickly realized it was his and Quinn’s. Dream Sebastian had been very happy, until Quinn gave the first dance to Sam’s old boss (who was apparently a warlock? Sebastian didn’t know anymore) and told Sebastian that this was tradition for all ex-Joja employees.

The next one he had remembered was of Quinn in labour. He himself was sitting beside her, holding her hand, while Doctor Fairchild and Maru did their thing on Quinn’s lower half. The baby they held up was… Morris. Not just a baby that looked vaguely like Morris, but Morris’s actual, grown-up head, on the body of a tiny baby.

The last straw was the night he dreamed that he came home to a full three course meal on the table, with Quinn facing the opposite way of the door. When his dream self spun her around to kiss her, it was none other than fucking Morris.

He had thought about retracing the steps that he and Sam had taken while following Quinn to the house in the forest, thinking that maybe the man inside would have answers.

He had decided against that, however, not wanting to be in the same constantly paranoid state that Quinn found herself in most days. So instead, he told Sam, who thought they were hilarious.

Still, he couldn’t help but wonder why they were happening now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!  
> You can find me at [my Tumblr](https://emilywritesnonsense.tumblr.com/) if you would like to make a story request :) I don't post much, but I'm always there!


	10. Chapter 10

“Okay, so this might taste like shit, but I put a lot of work into it, so at least try it.”

Quinn glanced down a little nervously at the mug being placed in front of her. Rebecca was visiting Harvey, and Quinn couldn’t help but come over to see her.

“What’s in it?” she asked, sniffing it apprehensively. It smelled fruity, but sharp and Earthy at the same time. It was a muddy brown colour that didn't exactly look appealing.

“Oh, just some fertility boosting compounds,” Becky replied thoughtfully, brewing her own tea consisting of just one bag. “Raspberry leaf, nettle leaf, clover… it’s all natural!”

Harvey rubbed his temple. “Quinn, I do not endorse anything that Rebecca is giving you. Please keep that in mind.”

“Oh, shut up, ya big fuckin’ party pooper. I mix chemical compounds for a living, I know what I’m doing.”

Quinn brought the mug to her lips and watched the two of them in amusement. Becky was the complete opposite of Harvey, but they worked so well. She had come into his life as though she were a hurricane, and Quinn couldn't help but warm up to her as quickly as he had. 

She sipped the tea tentatively and despite not wanting to offend her friend, she spit it out almost immediately. It tasted like someone heated up garbage and put it in a tea bag to steep. 

“Becks, this is awful,” she said with a cough. Becky smirked.

“Told ya it’d taste like shit,” she said. “Dunno why you chose not to believe me. But drink it if ya wanna get a start on that baby bullshit. Trust me, it’ll work. I call it… Fertili-Tea.”

“That is already a product, Rebecca,” Harvey pointed out. "Which hasn't been scientifically proven by credible studies to work, by the way."

She sighed. “Fine. Pregnant-Tea. Get it? Pregnancy, only with tea. Cause of the fertility. I know, I know. I should get down to the patent office and trademark that. Then go get my own comedy show.”

Quinn squeezed her nose and took a swig of the tea. “You’re a genius, Becks. Truly.”

“I dunno why you’d want a baby to begin with,” Becky said. “Babies are nasty.”

Quinn smiled. “I thought so too, until I met Sebastian. Well, I still think they’re disgusting. But I guess it’s my kind of disgusting.”

Becky shook her head. “A true love story for the ages. I have no problem being aunt Becky, but don’t expect me to change any shitty diapers.”

“Do not let Rebecca have any authority over your child,” Harvey said, swatting her lightly with a dish towel. “We’ll have a child running around spewing profanities before anyone knows what’s happened.”

Quinn looked at Harvey over the rim of her mug, eyebrows raised. “Honestly, Harvey, it’s like you don’t even fucking know me.”

* * *

 Quinn was at the Saloon on the last Friday night of summer with Sebastian, Sam and Abby when she started feeling… weird. Different. Not entirely unpleasant, but she had noticed a change, although she was unable to determine exactly what the change might be. Nonetheless, her stomach churned slightly.

She frowned and excused herself to the bathroom, and Abby came in seconds later.

“Quinn, don’t get mad at me,” she said. “But… look at your butt in the mirror.”

Quinn looked at her friend quizzically, but did as she had been told, and turned around to look at the backside of her reflection.

Blood.

Blood, all over her pants. Down the leg, up the back.

“Get Harvey,” she breathed, strangely calm depite the sight of her butt massacre.

Abby did as she was told and rushed out of the bathroom, coming back with the Doctor and Becky. Becky took one look at Quinn, who was facing the wall, and nearly fainted.

“This is what I get for being nosy,” she said, ducking her head back out of the room. “Call me back in if she needs me, Harv. I just need a sec. I’m here for you, baby, I just… oh Yoba…”

Quinn could hear the sounds of her retching as the door swung closed.

“Oh dear,” Harvey said. Quinn could see him adjusting his glasses in the mirror as he came closer to her. “That… that is a lot of blood. How do you feel?”

Quinn shrugged. Somehow, her anxiety was being kept at bay and she didn’t feel the need to freak out about the large amount of blood as she normally would have. This alarmed her, but her face remained unchanged.

“I feel fine,” she said. “Doesn’t feel like anything wrong.”

“Hm,” said Harvey. “That could be adrenaline, perhaps. I’m going to have to bring you to the clinic. I will get Maru to assist me, if it would be more comfortable.”

Quinn didn’t entirely feel like she was in control of her shoulders as she shrugged again.

“Don’t want to wake her up,” she said, her mouth moving without her wanting it to. “I think maybe I’ll just go home.”

Wait, what?

Although she could clearly see that her outward demeanour was calm and collected, she finally felt that familiar burn in her chest as something grabbed hold of her lungs. As far as she knew, however, she didn’t show it.

_What the fuck is going on?_

She knew she needed to go back to the clinic with Harvey, but it seemed as though her body was acting on its own, defying her brain. Her legs started moving without her wanting them to, and she found herself exiting the bathroom despite the protests of Harvey and Abby back inside.

“Farewell, Rebecca,” she said as she passed Becky near the door. Her voice was sounding more mechanical and totally unlike her own, and she didn’t know how to stop it.

“Where are you going?” Becky asked, trailing after Quinn. “Where’s Harvey? Are you going to the clinic?”

“There will be no need of that,” Quinn (or, her mouth) replied. “I am going home. I need a good rest. Please do not follow me.”

_She had better not start listening to me right now._

“Fuck off, Quinn, ya know I need to follow you now.” Becky sounded concerned and Quinn desperately wanted to find a way to get her friend to restrain her, but couldn’t. “You ain’t going nowhere without Harvey.”

“Please do not follow me, Rebecca,” Quinn said, her tone sharp and threatening. “I have no use for it.”

She was coming up on the table where Sam and Sebastian sat. When he saw her, Sebastian rose from his seat and held his arms out.

“You okay?” he asked gently, and Quinn wanted to die as she pushed his arms down. “Where are you going?”

Her body language was becoming more aggressive with more people being shoved into her bubble.

“I am fine. Please do not follow me.”

Sebastian turned as she walked past him and he gasped at the sight of the blood. "What -"

Harvey suddenly caught up to her and grabbed her arm.

“Something is seriously wrong here,” he said, his voice indicating worry. "She is not herself right now. She needs medical attention."

Becky scoffed from behind Quinn. “This is what you went to med school for? No shit, Harv. I can’t get her to stop. She doesn’t sound like herself, either.”

“There is nothing wrong with me!” The voice that cried out from Quinn’s throat was not hers at all. It was a male voice. A strangely and sinisterly familiar voice.

Suddenly, she knew exactly what was going on and was horrified.

Sam’s eyes met hers as she forced them upwards, and she could see that he was equally as surprised as she was to hear the voice of his former boss come out of the mouth of one of his best friends.

“Seb, grab her,” he said gravely. “Doctor, I don’t know how to explain this, but we need to get her out of here.”

* * *

 Somewhere far from the Valley, Morris cursed. Another man in the room yawned.

“How can a girl so stupid be so elusive?”

Morris turned to his apathetic companion, practically frothing at the mouth.

“If you think it’s so easy, you come do it,” he snapped. “She is constantly surrounded by people. Every single time, someone has either found her or been there.”

“Then maybe you should do something when she’s alone.” The other man sounded bored. “I don’t know why that didn’t become obvious to you after your first failure.”

Morris turned away from the cauldron projecting an image of Quinn being looked over by Rasmodius and rubbed his temples. “Maurice, I swear to Yoba…”

“Get this under control, Morris.” Maurice was suddenly serious. “Something must be done about this girl. Martin must not win.”

“Obviously not,” Morris replied bitterly. “And he will not. You will get your revenge on the girl, brother, just as I will get mine…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOO QUINN WHAT DID YOU GET YOURSELF INTO THIS TIME???  
> Also, I said to myself when I started writing this that I wouldn't insert too many OC's but like I super love Becky so she doesn't count. She belongs here.
> 
> Find me over on [Tumblr!](https://emilywritesnonsense.tumblr.com/)


	11. Chapter 11

“So, let me get this straight. She was… hypnotized? By the idiot who used to work the service desk at Joja? But where did the blood come from?”

Sebastian wasn’t too worried about Quinn being in a trance, truth be told. He was a little more worried that she had almost _fucking bled to death_ right in front of him.

By the time he and Sam had gotten Quinn out of the Saloon to bring her to the forest tower, she had come back to her senses and immediately began having a severe panic attack. She thrashed around in between them, and her jerky movements and constant straining caused her to bleed more. Harvey, Becky and Abby trailed behind them to mop up any of it that had gotten on the ground to avoid suspicion. The three of them had no idea where Sam and Sebastian were going, but knew better than to ask questions. Quinn would eventually have to explain to them what was going on, but Sebastian would save that information for a different time; she still didn’t know he knew.

With Sam doing most of the lifting after Quinn had passed out (from blood loss or exhaustion, Sebastian didn’t know), the two of them made it to the wizard’s door fairly quickly. Rasmodius had apparently been expecting them, because he was standing outside his open front door when they came into sight.

After a few spells and having to force some mysterious liquid down Quinn’s throat, she was finally snoring on a small cot, all traces of blood gone.

“Likely some sort of early-term spontaneous abortion of magical origins,” Rasmodius replied airily, as though he wasn’t talking about such a sensitive topic. “Otherwise known as a sorcerous miscarriage.”

Sebastian floundered. “A… miscarriage? So she was – “

“Not likely.” Rasmodius seemed to read his mind. “Sometimes this incantation is performed on a woman with child, but most of the time, it is performed as revenge. The caster makes the victim’s body think it is carrying, but in all likelihood, they never were.”

Before he could ask any further questions, Sam cut in.

“So, you say you knew what happened to her,” he said. “But why couldn’t you have stopped it?”

Rasmodius’ face darkened. “They are one step ahead of me. I am not able to predict what is going to happen, but if I am keeping tabs on her, which I usually am, I am able to see in real time what is going on. That is how I always know.”

He sighed, glancing over at her as she let out a particularly loud snore.

“She is in danger, you know,” he said plainly. “I fear that it is my fault.”

“Then help her,” Sebastian snapped. He immediately felt bad, but didn’t regret it. He had seen Quinn endure enough, and despite his limited knowledge of the situation, he knew it had only started when she was asked to help close down the JojaMart. How many more times could she realistically be knocked unconscious before she just finally died? It seemed like it was some sort of daily occurrence.

Rasmodius regarded Sebastian with disdain. “I am doing my best. I am not as versed in dark magic as Morris is, and finding a workaround will take time.”

The answer frustrated Sebastian, but he said nothing.

“Can we do anything?” Sam asked.

“Keep an eye on her,” Rasmodius answered. “Make sure she is safe. These last few attempts on her life have thankfully failed, but no one really knows the extent of what Morris is capable of. Leave the rest to me. Just… keep her out of trouble.”

* * *

 

Quinn was furious when Sebastian took three days to wake her up.

Sure, her body probably needed it, but three days was a lot to miss when it was the start of a new season, no matter what Sebastian had told her had happened.

“I may be part of some weird magical plot to kill me, Sebastian, but I’m still a fucking farmer!”

It had been a tough conversation between the two of them when Quinn realized that Sebastian knew everything that had happened lately. He didn’t seem upset that she had told Sam instead of him. She had wanted to keep him from that part of her life, to keep him out of danger, but she couldn’t deny that it would be more prudent if he was in the loop.

He had also been chewed out for not waking her in time to see the Jellies. She had considered not speaking to him after expressing her disappointment, but realistically, she couldn’t go that long without talking. And there was always next year.

Like a chastised puppy with its tail tucked between its legs, he followed her to Pierre’s as she put in for more seeds than she would realistically need.

“I wouldn’t put it past Morris to ruin my crops,” she explained as they walked back to the farm, backpacks heavy with packets. “That little fucker can try to kill me, but I’ll be damned if he makes everyone miss out on pumpkins.”

Sebastian’s voice was dry. “How charitable.”

She stuck her tongue out at that.

They spent the day outside, thankful that the early autumn winds weren’t as strong as they could have been. Quinn showed Sebastian how to properly plant the seeds, and by the late afternoon, she was confident that most of it would grow to harvest.

While for Quinn, farming wasn’t a big deal anymore, Sebastian collapsed on the rug in front of the couch, covered in dirt and sweat. She rolled her eyes.

“You don’t have to be so dramatic,” she told him. “But thank you for not getting your stink all over my couch.”

“Our couch.” Sebastian’s correction was muffled by the rug. She rolled her eyes.

“ _Our_ couch.”

* * *

 

Wedding planning was harder than Quinn had thought it would be. Of course, it didn’t help that she was constantly on the lookout for any signs of Morris.

She and Sebastian bickered about _everything_ involved. He seemed to hate every idea Quinn put forward.

She hated to do it, but she had ordered name change documents in the mail, and their appearance sparked another planning conversation.

“Quinn, I’ve told you, I don’t want a big party.”

She pouted. “Sebastian, this town has like, thirty people. It’s not a big party. I just want to have fun!”

“Then have fun _after_ we go to the courthouse. I would rather go down into the mines without a sword than get married in front of everyone. I just… I don’t think I can do that.”

“If that’s the best we can do…” she sighed. “We’ll have to bring witnesses. And I assume your mom wants to come.”

He nodded. “We can bring Sam and Abby. That’s not a big issue. What about your parents?”

She bristled, remembering her last conversation with her mother.

_“Quinnie, I know I said I liked him but… isn’t he a little scraggly for a husband? You can do better than that.”_

_“He’s not scraggly, mom. And I don’t care that you think I can do better. I love Sebastian, we’re getting married, and that’s that. Please come.”_

_Quinn heard Jackie suck in air through her teeth. “Honey, I don’t think I want to be there to see you throw your life away like that. Why can’t you marry the Doctor?”_

She shook her head to clear the memory from her brain. Hearing her mother talk about her fiancé the way she did hurt her heart. As much as Quinn couldn’t stand Jackie sometimes, she was devastated that she wouldn’t come.

“Dad’s coming,” she replied. “My brothers couldn’t get time off so he’s going to FaceTime with them.”

Her conversation with Andrew had gone much better.

_“Oh sweet mother of Yoba, Quinn, I knew you’d end up with him!”_

_She could practically hear her father smiling through the phone. After what Jackie had said, it was more than welcome._

_“Oh man, that makes me and Robin like… siblings in law, right? Just like the good old days when we’d try to fool the teachers into thinking we were related! Oh, hon, I’m so happy for you. Of course I’ll be there.”_

“So that’s four people at the courthouse,” Sebastian mused. “I suppose I can make an appearance at a party. Just don’t let Demetrius DJ again like he did at Maru’s wedding.”

“I’d sooner let Vincent DJ than Demetrius.” Quinn giggled. “I think Sam mentioned he wanted to give it a go.”

She ripped open the envelope containing the documents she would have to file with a court clerk to change her last name. The paper was thick, and there were a lot of blanks to fill out.

She groaned. “How is it possible that I have to fill out _more_ paperwork for keeping my last name on my birth certificate and my social insurance card? It’d be less work to just pretend I was born with the last name St-Pierre!”

“Actually…” Sebastian coughed lightly. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. I was thinking that maybe you shouldn’t take my last name.”

“You couldn’t have brought that up before I got a hold of this stack of work?” she asked incredulously. “Why wouldn’t I take your last name? We’re getting married.”

He blushed slightly. “I was thinking… maybe I could take yours instead.”

He had probably intended on phrasing it like a statement rather than a question, but it didn’t come out that way.

“You want to take my last name?” Quinn asked. She was floored, not expecting the sudden request.

“Yeah, well, my last name doesn’t give me any good memories.” He scratched the back of his neck, a nervous habit that he had picked up from Sam. “But yours does. What do you think?”

She enveloped his thin frame in a tight hug, resting her head on his shoulder.

“I think Sebastian Briar sounds _amazing.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Keep her out of trouble," says Rasmodius, referring to the biggest idiot in Pelican Town.  
> Also: CHANGING YOUR LAST NAME IS HELL! I got my change request rejected twice after I got married bc I filled something out wrong. So stupid.
> 
> Find me over on [Tumblr!](https://emilywritesnonsense.tumblr.com/)


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment ur food baby name mine is Extra Mozzarella

“Quinn, I think you may have gained a little weight…”

Quinn was standing in Emily’s room as Emily made the finishing touches on her wedding dress before heading to the courthouse in Zuzu City. She blushed.

“I may have… stress eaten some tacos last night,” she replied with a blush. Emily frowned, pulling the fabric tight against Quinn’s middle. “It’s just my food baby. I’m calling it ‘Too Much Guacamole.’ I hope it’s a boy.”

“How many did you eat?”

Quinn hesitated. “Somewhere between one and twelve.”

Emily stood back and stared. “How did you even stomach that?”

“I regret it today, trust me.” Her stomach growled as if in agreement. “Gus just kept bringing them out and sometimes when I’m around Sam it’s like my stomach expands twice its size. I don’t know what came over me.”

Emily chuckled, repeating the action to tighten the dress and pull it in. It hurt a bit, but once Emily had let go, Quinn relaxed.

“Might not have been the best night for that,” Emily chided gently. “This won’t take long, though.”

She hadn’t had time to get an actual wedding dress, so she was recycling the dress she wore to the Flower Dance in the spring. Emily had insisted on sewing flowers into the bodice to spruce it up a little, only to find out that it had gotten a little small.

Emily worked quickly, and Quinn had hardly blinked and she was finished.

“Now, go get married,” she said with a smile. “We’ll be waiting back here for the party!”

Emily kissed Quinn’s cheek and gently pushed her towards the door. She shook Abby, who had fallen asleep near the door, awake.

“Ready?” Abby asked sleepily. “Good thing Sam’s driving. It’s too early for this.”

Sebastian had gone with Robin into the city before Quinn, who was being escorted by Abby and Sam. They would meet up with her father before going to the courthouse.

“You say that now, until we get in the car with him.” They exited the Bennett house, mercifully free of Haley, and walked quickly to the bus stop where Sam was waiting. The autumn air had started turning chilly, and it didn’t take long before Quinn and Abby were shivering in their dresses.

“This would have been a great time for me to wear two sweaters again,” Abby remarked with chattering teeth.

Thankfully, Sam had the heat turned on in the car.

“Took you long enough,” he grumbled as Abby and Quinn buckled themselves in.

Abby stretched out in the backseat. “I’m going back to sleep. Wake me up when we get there.”

Sam and Quinn were quiet for Abby’s sake. Quinn hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before either, but she was too excited to feel tired.

“I’m sorry it was so sudden,” she said in a low voice to Sam. “We just kind of… decided.”

Sam shrugged as he drove. “A day is enough. You both know me and Abs wouldn’t miss it. I’m just glad I’m not the one planning the party.”

Quinn made a sympathetic noise in the back of her throat. Robin, Jodi and Caroline had taken up the job of planning a wedding party with just over 24 hours of notice. Robin had only been involved in a few aspects, as she would be at the wedding itself, so the planning was essentially only Jodi and Caroline.

To be fair, once both Sebastian and Quinn had the marriage license in their hands and could realistically go to the courthouse in Zuzu City at any point, there was little indication that they would bother waiting.

It was a bit of a surprise, however, that it was Sebastian who brought it up first.

“We could go tomorrow, you know,” he had said casually the day before as the two of them woke up to begin the farm work. “I looked it up, there’s a Justice of the Peace at the courthouse on Wednesdays.”

Quinn smiled at the memory.

“Are you nervous?” Sam asked, his eyes glued on the road. She sighed.

“Not yet. But I’m sure I will be soon. That’s how this works.”

There were hardly any other drivers on the road into the city, so the drive took much less time than anticipated. The city itself, however, was bustling, and Sam navigated around corners and pedestrians slowly.

The courthouse, as Quinn remembered, was at the very heart of Zuzu City, nestled between City Hall and the main Church of Yoba.

Quinn and Sam got out of the car, slamming their doors behind them as hard as they could to wake up Abby in the back seat. Abby yelled at them, but they couldn’t hear through the window.

“I’m going to come do that to you someday,” she said harshly. “I was having a nice nap, you know.”

“If we didn’t wake you up, you’d miss the opportunity to be the one crying at a wedding,” Sam pointed out. When she scowled, he added, “don’t look at me like that. You know you’re going to cry.”

They headed up the stairs and followed the signs directing them into a small room. Robin and Sebastian were already there, as was Andrew Briar, who jumped out of his seat when Quinn entered the room.

“There’s my girl!” he said tearfully. “Was beginning to think you weren’t going to show up and _I_ was going to have to marry Sebastian.”

Quinn wrinkled her nose as her father hugged her. “He’s super not your type, dad.”

“You don’t think we’d be a cute couple?” Andrew asked, pretending to be hurt. Quinn rolled her eyes and smiled.

“Mom wouldn’t approve.”

Any response that Andrew would have given was interrupted by Robin and her impeccable timing.

“Let’s have a wedding, shall we?” She was giddy, her face flushed and a bounce in her step. Sam and Abby ushered Quinn inside.

The room wasn’t very big, holding merely a few seats and a small judge’s stand. Sebastian was in one of the seats, beaming at Quinn.

“You got him in a suit,” she remarked to Robin with raised eyebrows. “I’m impressed.”

“I picked it out, actually,” he replied haughtily. She giggled.

The Justice of the Peace entered the room then, and she had only prepared a short ceremony. Quinn was thankful she wasn’t asked if she had written her own vows – she hadn’t even thought about it.

As the JP spoke, Sebastian reached out blindly for Quinn’s hand, barely looking away from her face with a shy smile on his own. She sucked in her bottom lip as his fingers closed over hers. She could barely hear what the JP was saying until she cleared her throat.

“… and so by the legal authority given to me by Zuzu City, the third jurisdiction of the Ferngull Republic, I now pronounce you man and wife.”

Sebastian smiled at Quinn and Quinn smiled back over their joined hands. He leaned in for a small, gentle kiss. Sam whistled.

“Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs… Briar,” the JP said, having to hold up the sheet of paper she was holding to verify the last name. “Your official marriage certificate will be sent off this afternoon, and will be mailed to you once it is complete in about six to eight weeks.”

Quinn barely heard her as Sebastian gripped her hand once again with an affectionate squeeze.

They joined their friends and family who were all smiles. Abby grabbed Quinn’s free hand and sighed happily.

“I still can’t believe you guys are married now,” she said.

Quinn could hardly believe it either.

* * *

 

Quinn had to hand it to them; the Mom Squad was comprised of some excellent party planners.

Sam had proved himself a much better DJ than Demetrius, and Sebastian had actually come out and danced with Quinn and Abby more often than not. The air was cooler for this wedding as opposed to Penny and Maru’s, which helped more people get up and dance as well.

It was well past two in the morning when the party wound down, after all the food had been eaten and Sam’s playlist had been exhausted. Although Quinn had wanted to stay behind to help clean up, Robin shooed her and Sebastian away.

“It’s your wedding night, you fools,” she chided. “I don’t want to have to explain that you don’t have to help do anything.”

Andrew, who had come back for the party, chuckled. “I have to agree. We’ll handle this.”

He pulled Quinn in and kissed her temple.

“Welcome to the family, kid,” he added to Sebastian.

Quinn and Sebastian didn’t stick around to be told to leave again, and set off hand in hand towards the farm.

“So, what romantic evening have you planned for us tonight?” Quinn asked jokingly. He laughed.

“Honestly? I want to go to bed,” he replied. “All that socialization and the dancing… I’m truly a basement goblin at heart, I’m exhausted.”

“That’s too bad,” she teased. “There were… certain traditions… I was hoping to uphold.”

They approached the gate to the farm, and Sebastian held it open to let Quinn pass. “I’m listening.”

“Too bad you’re too tired,” she mused as they crossed the front door. In the darkness of the farm house, she could see his pout. “Things could be… negotiated, if you’re feeling up to it.”

She didn’t allow him room to speak before she grabbed his arm and strolled to the bedroom.

“Can you help me?” she asked innocently, gesturing to the zipper at the back of her dress. “I can’t reach.”

He obliged, gently tugging down the zipper. He brushed his hand over one side of her neck and softly kissed the other. She hummed in appreciation.

“Now, about negotiations,” she said, pushing her dress off her body. “I think you may have come overdressed.”

“Have I?” he asked, his voice muffled by her neck. “I’m sure something can be done about that.”

From behind her, she felt him unbutton his suit jacket and shrug it off. She turned to help him with his pants, leaving feather-light touches down his front.

“We may have to relocate this meeting,” she told him in a businesslike tone. “Somewhere more… comfortable.”

She pulled him by the band of his boxers to the bed, where she sat down, and stopped him directly in front of her.

“I think this is better.”

“Maybe you’re the one that’s overdressed now,” he said, sending his fumbling hands to unclip her bra.

“Sorry, sir,” she replied with a smirk. He rolled his eyes as the clasps gave and her bra fell on the floor.

“You’re making this weird.” He gently cupped her breast, swiping a finger over the centre. “Stop making this weird.”

Their eyes met, and they smiled at each other.

“Do you think this will be different, now that we’re married?” she asked, savouring the words as they left her mouth.

“Guess we’ll find out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to write a ~*sex scene*~ but everything I tried was awful. I didn't leave this in a great spot but I spared your eyes from the horrible writing that would have been. You're welcome. I'm not cut out for smut and it's better this way.
> 
> Also speaking of, updates might be slow for a bit bc my husband is coming home from a 2 month sail and I'm going to be ~*busy*~
> 
> Don't forget you can find me over on [Tumblr!](https://emilywritesnonsense.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Also a big thank you to my dear [littlecakes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlecakes/) who is literally the nicest person on the planet and has kept me motivated even when I didn't want to write<3


	13. Chapter 13

Quinn woke up cold and damp.

Her shoulder was sore. In fact, the whole left side of her body was sore. Numb, almost.

It took a few seconds before she realized she wasn’t in her bed. She was in the mines.

She sat up and groaned. “Again?”

She suspected that the mornings where she would wake up in the mines were the work of Morris, but he was missing his mark. She had yet to wake up on a level where it was actually dangerous.

She was luckily close to the elevator out, and made quick work back to the farm. The sun was just beginning to rise, and as she approached, the air was filled with sounds of panic.

“How could my morning get any worse?”

Despite the pain in her body, she jogged towards the gate. It sounded like a cow in pain.

“Seb?” she called as she unlatched the gate. “Seb, are you outside?”

“In the barn,” he shouted back, his voice tense and afraid.

She headed to the barn, where the sounds of the hurting cow only got louder. Riju was laying down in a patch of hay, making extremely loud, agitated grunts. Sebastian’s face was bright red.

“I don’t know what’s happening,” he said plainly. “I came in to feed them and she was pacing back and forth and she did _not_ want anything to do with me.”

Quinn had never seen her cow act like this. She didn’t know what was happening either.

“I’m going to call Marnie,” she said, holding out her hand. “Pass me your phone. I don’t know where mine is.”

Sebastian looked at her quizzically, but didn’t say anything. He had been privy to her mornings in the mine, and knew better than to question it again.

Marnie was unable to come up to tend to the cow emergency, so she was sending Shane. Quinn and Sebastian waited patiently by poor Riju until he arrived.

“It sounds like she’s giving birth,” he explained, approaching the cow gently. “I know it sounds bizarre, but cows can just give birth around here without needing a bull. I don’t question it.”

“I thought I had seen everything when I saw the blue chicken,” Quinn muttered. Shane grimaced.

“I’m ready to sell those, actually,” he reported, feeling Riju’s abdomen. “Yup, she’s ready to go any second. Do you have any rubber gloves?”

Quinn, in fact, did – she rushed around for them, finding them buried on a shelf under hay. She threw them to Shane.

“Typically, you’d do this with your bare hands, but you’d need to wash them. And you don’t have a sink in here. Gloves are fine. Don’t want to give the calf anything nasty.”

He snapped on his gloves and… Quinn couldn’t watch what he did next.

“I can’t believe my baby is having babies,” she mourned. “I remember the day you brought her here.”

“She’s not quite a baby anymore,” Shane reminded her. “Animals don’t age as slowly as humans.”

Quinn tried her best to tune out the noises in the barn. Sebastian, however, was watching curiously. Shane noticed the interested eyes, and began to explain what he was doing. Quinn plugged her ears.

Sebastian tapped her on the shoulder after a while, interrupting her staring contest with Bularia. She turned to see a new baby cow.

“Congrats, Grandma,” Shane said, pulling the bloodied gloves off and balling them up. “It’s a female.”

Quinn squealed. “Her name is Barta.”

Shane cleaned up and Quinn watched Riju nurture baby Barta. It was touching, really.

“What a good mom,” she mumbled to the cow as she stroked her head. “I hope someday I’m as good as you.”

Shane was sent back to the ranch with a basket of pepper jelly and some aged wine. Sebastian continued the farm work unprompted. Quinn leaned against the barn outside.

“What did Shane teach you about cow vaginas?” she asked after a short while. “I couldn’t listen, and I value my eyeballs.”

“That’s crass.”

“Sorry. What did Shane teach you about the heifer reproductive system? Anything interesting?”

Sebastian wiped dirt off his face. “Interesting is a word for it. I’ve never seen a human give birth, so I don’t have much to compare it to. Barta came out in a sac.”

“That’s… wow. That’s gross. I think humans are in a sac too, but it breaks. Or something. Zuzu didn’t have great education on this stuff, so I’m just trying to put the pieces together from what I’ve read on Wikipedia.”

“Birth is weird,” he said simply. He returned to pulling up weeds. “Glad I don’t have to do it.”

“You gonna watch me do it?” Quinn asked, amused but at the same time disgusted. “I’d really rather not do it but one of us has to, to cure your baby rabies.”

Sebastian shook his head and said nothing, digging deeper for roots that didn’t belong. A shadow of a smile crept up on him.

They fell back into silence as she watched him do her job. Although he was ripping things from the ground, he was curiously gentle about it.

“You’ll be a good dad, you know,” she said dreamily. He looked up at her, shielding his eyes. “Someday.”

“Yeah? I hope so.”

* * *

 

“Maybe you should just give up.”

Maurice was bored out of his mind watching Morris obsess over the human Quinn Briar. Morris was a powerful wizard, but he wasn’t very intelligent about it. It was tiring.

“When have I ever been one to give up?” Morris hissed back. Maurice rolled his eyes.

“Literally all the time,” he replied. “I could list every single time you gave up, but we’d be here for days. I don’t know why this time is any different.”

“She stole my job!” Morris burst. “I was _so close_ to being able to take over that stupid town and raid the ore deposits in the mines. So close! But she ruined it!”

“I’ll just give you a job at another store, you idiot,” Maurice snapped back. “Quinn Briar may have ruined many good Joja employees, but this is a lost cause. She is being protected by our brother, Morris, and he knows us better than even we do. It’s hopeless.”

“Once I find the right level to drop her on in the mines, it’ll be all ov-“

Maurice cut off his brother angrily. “Give it a rest. She’s won. Just like I told you she would. The girl has some sort of magic of her own, I would say.”

“No she doesn’t,” Morris scoffed, but Maurice heard the uncertainty in his voice.

“Focus on something else, man.”

Maurice met Morris’ eyes. They were hard and determined.

“I _will_ destroy Quinn Briar, if it’s the last thing I do.”

With that, he snapped his fingers and blindly sent her into another level of the mines he never got to pillage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me over on [Tumblr!](https://emilywritesnonsense.tumblr.com/) From there, you can request stories or headcanons from me and I'll do my best to fill them :)


	14. Chapter 14

The Wizard’s Tower made Quinn extremely uncomfortable. Not really the tower itself, but the fact that she had to go there for help made her feel disgusted with herself.

The fact remained, however, that she was _tired._ Morris had changed tactics so many times, and seemed determined to murder Quinn by never letting her sleep. Or eat. Or… anything, really.

People were starting to notice. Robin was the first, and she had pulled Quinn aside during a regular Sunday dinner up in the mountain house to ask if Sebastian was treating her right, of all things. _That_ was an embarrassing conversation she hoped to never have again.

The next person to notice was Shane, surprisingly. She had run into him outside the Saloon after grabbing a coffee in preparation of her nightly tortures, and he expressed concern.

“Did you swallow a tape worm?” he asked her, frowning. She sighed.

“I can’t keep anything down,” she explained. “I should really go see the doctor, but I don’t have time. Farm stuff, you know.”

“Fall is almost over, Quinn.” His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “I was at your farm three days ago. You have like one pumpkin patch left. What’s going on?”

Rather than answer him, Quinn ran instead, spilling coffee all over her shirt. Shane spent the next day trying to reach her, but to no avail, and set an equally concerned but exasperated Harvey upon her instead.

“Quinn, just talk to us – “ the Doctor had tried to say before the door was closed in his face by a disgustingly sweaty Quinn, the result of the latest attempt by Morris.

So here she was, in the present, pounding on Rasmodius’ door, hoping that he would actually be some help this time around.

She was to the point of tears when the door finally opened to the Wizard’s unimpressed face.

“Come in, then,” he said flatly. She followed him inside.

“He’s going to kill me.” It was the first time she had said the words out loud and actually meant them. “He’s so close to breaking me. I can’t make it stop. I’m literally going to die.”

Rasmodius raised an eyebrow. “No, you’re not. I have a plan.”

He stepped over to the cauldron and conjured up an image. It was blurry at first, but Quinn gasped in surprise when it came into focus.

“…What does this mean?” she asked. To add to the shock, he gave her a half smile.

“I’ve been training her.”

Quinn looked between the smoky likeness of her best friend from the cauldron to the wizard.

“She can help me?” she breathed. “Abby? Abby can help me?”

“I’ve told her everything,” Rasmodius said with a nod. “Everything. She wanted me to keep this between us, but I can see you’re not well, Quinn. She is more powerful than I had ever imagined. I will spare you the details, but we will keep it at the fact that you are lucky to have Abigail as a friend.”

Quinn couldn’t help but fall to the ground and sob.

* * *

 

Something was wrong with the Valley.

Morris couldn’t access Quinn anymore, and he was frustrated. He picked up the crystal ball and threw it at the wall with a scream.

“That’s a bit of an overreaction.” Maurice was sitting on the couch, calm as ever, examining his fingernails while his brother threw a tantrum.

“I can’t find her!” Morris roared. “I can’t find anyone! Martin’s meddling has finally gone too far!”

“So _give up_ , you fucking idiot.”

Morris growled from the back of his throat and his eyes flashed red at his brother. Maurice sat up straighter, frowning.

“I mean it,” he hissed. “She’s too much trouble for you. She has too much protection. There’s nothing you can do here, Morris. Give up.”

“What happened to you?” Morris asked, puffing his chest out. “How have you changed from wanting revenge so bad to being so apathetic about this whole thing? Now you’re suggesting we _let her go?_ ”

Maurice threw his hands up. “She’s more trouble than we thought she was. No matter what you try to do, something always protects her. Half the time it’s because you’ve been driven to the point of madness and can’t think things through any longer.”

Morris was fuming. “ _How dare you?”_

“I’m out,” Maurice said, rising from the couch. “I have better things to do. I hope you realize soon that you do, too.”

Morris was about to reply when the floor creaked behind the two of them, and they both turned to the sound menacingly.

Nothing was immediately apparent, but there was a telltale flash of purple and brown that gave it away. Morris suddenly smiled wildly, his eyes wide and full of malice.

“Well, well, well, Miss Briar! And Miss Chandler too! We were _just_ talking about you!”

Maurice turned to Morris in confusion, but a guilty looking young woman with purple hair materialized, holding hands with Quinn.

“Abigail?” Maurice asked, startled. “Quinn?”

The two women noticed him then, just as startled as he. Quinn looked upset. “Linus?”

“I’ll… I’ll explain later.” Maurice’s eyes were darting in between the girls and Morris, who looked more maniacal than before. “Right now we have to –“

“We have a lot of catching up to do, Miss Briar,” Morris interrupted in a dark tone. “Quite a lot, indeed.”

He raised his hand to direct a spell at her, but both Maurice and Abigail were faster. He was knocked back roughly from the force of the two of them.

“Alright, please explain what’s going on.” Abigail’s voice was commanding. “Linus, what the hell are you doing here?”

Maurice sighed. “First of all, my real name isn’t Linus. It’s Maurice. I am Morris’ brother. I’ve been trying to protect Pelican Town.”

Quinn squeaked. She shrunk down behind Abigail.

“Then how come you’ve been helping him?” Abby asked. “Rasmodius and I have been keeping an eye on you two. You’ve been… you’ve been encouraging him! How can we know you’re not lying?”

“He wouldn’t trust me if I wasn’t encouraging him,” Maurice replied desperately. “I’ve been planting bad ideas in his head to try to get him to give up, but he won’t! Quinn, Abigail, I’m so sorry…”

A thump from the other side of the room indicated that Morris was stirring.

“You’ll be sorry, alright…” he mumbled, supporting himself against the wall to try to get back up.

“Oh, shut up,” Abby said, sending another spell square at his chest. “I don’t believe you. You were working with him.”

“If I was working with him, I could have cast a spell on Quinn while we were standing here talking to send her into oblivion, but I’m not going to do that. You can trust me.”

“Why did you let him do all those things to me?” Quinn asked in a small voice. Maurice sighed.

“I’m sorry, Quinn, I really am. I knew he wouldn’t actually kill you. Sure, he’s capable, but he’s not smart, at all. I was hoping to just get him to move on. He’s stubborn, though. His ideas got worse and worse until I was unable to influence him further.”

Quinn buried her face in her hands. “I thought I was going to die…”

“That’ll just be Morris,” Abigail told her in a soothing voice, raising her hands again. “And don’t think you can just get off with a warning either, _Uncle Maurice.”_

Maurice began to retort, but was cut off by a flash of light and a screech.

Evidently, Abby worked too fast, and her aim was off. Quinn had been hit with what could have only been meant for Morris, and now lay in a crumpled heap on the ground.

* * *

 

“Quinn, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you this, but you’re an idiot.”

Quinn ignored Abby’s wails and smiled serenely at her husband.

“I know.”

Since Harvey was ill equipped to deal with magical injuries, she was bundled up in a cot at Rasmodious’ house. Maurice (Linus? Quinn didn’t know anymore) had magically transported the three of them there after tearing Abigail off Morris in the aftermath of Quinn being hit by her spell.

“What I really want to know,” Maurice said thoughtfully. “Is what you were thinking?”

Quinn shrugged, bringing Sebastian’s hand closer to her, forcing him to bend down. She leaned into him.

“I dunno, I didn’t want anyone to die or anything. Then I thought, there must be a wizard jail so Morris should be sent there. I didn’t really mean to jump in front of the spell like some stupid movie hero, but that’s what happened.”

Rasmodius chuckled. “Wizard jail is one word for it.”

He explained that Morris would be sent to a purgatory-like place for his crimes against a human. Quinn shrugged.

“He’ll probably try to open a new store there. It’s a good place for him.”

Things had a habit of working out for Quinn, whether she thought they would or not. Sending Morris to purgatory was a satisfying victory.

“So now that you’ve banished an evil warlock to another realm,” Maurice said. “What’s next? I think you’ve had enough excitement for one lifetime.”

Sebastian ruffled her hair. “I think I might start going back down into the mines again.”

Four sets of eyes widened at her beaming face, and her friends all shouted in unison, “NO!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still here!  
> I'm finally done with this absolute trash fire. I know the ending is a cop out, and I'm very sorry. I just got so burnt out writing this, I had so many ideas but I can't be bothered with this installment anymore. I'm so busy and I barely have time for writing anymore, but I'd feel so bad just leaving it hanging. But it's done! And next time I'll actually make a damn plan! Thank you for reading!
> 
> Find me over on [Tumblr!](https://emilywritesnonsense.tumblr.com/)


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